Breaking Dawn ReWrite
by Daughter of Lestrange
Summary: Due to the amount of people unhappy with Breaking Dawn, I decided to finish the series the way I thought it might end. Rated M for Ch. 6 which contains VERY adult content. I hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

(( NOTE: Due to the amount of people who were unhappy with Breaking Dawn, I've decided to re-write it the way I had expected it to turn out. There will not be a Renesmee.... I give this warning in advance because I don't wish to be flamed due to disappointment. Don't worry – I have great plans for them and I'm sure you'll like it anyway!))

Chapter 1

To Plan or Not To Plan

Jacob was gone. Long gone. Being told that was the worst thing I had heard since Alice and I had rescued Edward from himself in Volterra. What made even more painful was knowing that it was entirely my fault. The best friend I had ever known was far, far away and no one was to blame but myself.

I couldn't help but run through the scenarios of 'what if' or 'should have'. What if I hadn't gone to see him that one last time? I should have been more gentle, or kept my mouth shut altogether. He had to know about the engagement, but what if I had let him hear from Seth? And so it went on, in a viscous circle that kept eating away at me.

Through it all, Edward was patient. He let me jabber on and on to him, never interrupting. I knew his mind must have been elsewhere, but at least he was able look as if he was paying attention.

Hearing my chatter and seeing my nerves become increasingly frayed, Carlisle had prescribed sleeping pills. I hadn't wanted them, but after three nights of little to no sleep and feeling my comprehension slipping, I decided it was best. Edward was probably grateful for the break in my rantings.

Charlie was no help to my nerves. He kept printing MISSING posters and asking around if anybody had seen Jacob. Billy was worried too, of course, but knew that the fuss wasn't necessary. Jacob couldn't run forever. Billy kept joking that he'd come home once he became hungry enough. Charlie didn't think that attitude was funny at all. Jake was an irrational teenager, but the length of time he'd been missing wasn't normal runaway behavior. Little did he know how much of Jacob was not normal.

As far as he knew, Jacob was hiding in the woods. My weekly updates on the situation from Seth told me differently. Jacob wasn't even in Washington. He had camped out in Alaska for a time, but was wandering all through Canada and the Northern states. Seth had described the scenery to Edward who thought that Jacob's most recent stop was North Dakota. How four considerably skinny legs could carry him so far and so fast was beyond me, but I had to realize that Jake probably had no idea how far he had gone.

This brought on a whole new world of worries for me. What would happen when he calmed down? I blushed every time I thought that perhaps he'd been marking trees all along the way, but if he hadn't been, would he know how to get home? Would he be scared then? If he was, who would help him? He had left as a wolf after all – would anybody be willing to take in a naked and presumably filthy teenage boy from the street? It was also possible for him to be arrested and then he would be in even bigger trouble for being a runaway.

I fumbled my way through the days, feeling as if I was only half awake. Part of me was so far gone that I might as well have been. I absently played with my engagement ring which was the only thing that had been going as planned.

As agreed, Emmett had gotten a pastoral license, which was a constant source for jokes in the Cullens house. Alice and I had gone out many times, looking at dresses and trying to choose colors. Eventually I had placed everything in her hands. I would be happy with whatever I was given, especially because I didn't know what exactly it was that I wanted. I always wanted to get married but I'd never given much thought to the wedding itself.

Alice had been more then thrilled to take the reigns, but Edward had to keep gagging her with them.

"This isn't a Broadway spectacle,"he kept reminding her."It's only our families, the Denali clan, and any friends that Bella chooses to invite. Most likely, that will be the Clearwaters and Billy. You can decorate it as beautifully as you wish, but don't do anything outrageous."

"Are there going to be doves?" Emmett asked, too eager to keep from sounding suspicious.

"You are not going to eat my doves, Emmett!" Alice cried. "If that's what you're planning, we'll have to stand there like idiots and throw rice at them. I'll not have you crashing about trying to catch a stupid bird. If you upset the cake, I'll never forgive you."

"Cake?" I asked.

"It won't be anything too big Bella, don't worry. Only two or three layers. What isn't eaten, we can give to your family, or to Seth to share with those too stubborn to come. I couldn't take the chance that Emmett and Jasper would waste it all in a food fight."

"Speaking of which, I thoroughly intend to smash it in your face, you know," Edward winked at me.

"Not if I get there first," I laughed.

During these moments, I forgot about Jacob. The closer it got to the date, the more my nervousness took over and the less I thought of where my furry friend might be.

Edward had asked Seth if he wouldn't mind being our ring bearer. We didn't know any small children, after all. He was more then happy to oblige. He came back in the next few days to inform us that he had convinced some of the pack to attend and had found us a flower girl. Quil's tiny imprint Claire was eager to be a part of the excitement. Upon telling us, Seth found himself being spun around by Alice and given a big kiss. It was the one thing she had been worried about missing. Seth had turned very dark and made an excuse to go home, making the rest of us laugh.

Even with all the talk of the wedding, Edward was remaining completely flexible. The actual date hadn't been set, but we had planned for it to be within the next two months. I was holding out for Jacob to come home. I didn't think he would remain on the run much longer then that. I knew he wouldn't attend the wedding, and that wasn't what I was hoping for. Just the fact that he was home would relieve me.

It was on one of those days of low activity, the days when I was practically alone with my thoughts, that Seth called. It wasn't as if this were something abnormal. He tried to at least phone us every week, but much to Leah's dismay, he liked to come over to talk with us face to face. He was such a wonderful kid that even the Cullens seemed to forget that he, technically, wasn't supposed to be there.

"Hey Bella!" He greeted when I picked up the phone.

"Hi Seth, what's up?"

"I didn't want to just tell you over the phone, but Leah's here and she'll take me back by my tail if I leave. So, guess what?"

"What?" I had a lump in my throat. Seth was always cheerful but he seemed to be bubbling over.

"Jacob is heading back! As far as we can tell, anyway. He's still in Canada right now and he's taking his sweet time getting here, but he's coming back this way. We can't think of any other reason he'd be retracing his route other then that he's coming home."

"Really?" I practically screamed.

Seth laughed. "Geez Bella, I've got sensitive ears too, ya know. I'll try to come over later with a better update. Remember, we're not totally sure, that's just what it looks like."

"Yeah, I know. Thank you Seth! Thank you so much!"

"My pleasure. See you later?"

"Of course. Come over any time. Talk to you soon."

We hung up and then I did scream. Edward was in front of me in the next second, followed by the rest of the family.

"What is it?" He asked. He put his hands on my cheeks and tilted my face up to him. "What's wrong, love?"

"Nothing. Actually, for once everything is right!" I removed his hands and hugged him tightly around his middle. "Jacob is coming home!"

"He is? Bella, that's wonderful!" He hugged me back.

Wonderful? I could tell that he was a bit tense. He meant that it was wonderful on my behalf. Wonderful that we could get married now and begin the rest of our lives together. The only thing that wasn't wonderful to him was what I said - that Jacob was coming back.

"Seth is coming over later," I said. "They want to make sure that's what's actually going on."

"This is great news," Esme said. "We'll be sure to give him a very warm welcome. I'm so happy for you, Bella!"

"And the wedding?" Alice asked eagerly. "Everything is ready to go when you are."

"We need to wait to hear from Seth again," Edward told her. "It would be too disappointing to get it set before we that this is for sure."

So we waited. Seth came late in the afternoon. He seemed flustered and flopped down on the leather sofa. All of us gather around him in anticiation.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get away earlier," he apologized. "The pack has been too excited. I feel sorry for Emily. When Sam made the announcement, muffins went everywhere!"

We all laughed.

"It's official then?" I asked.

"Jacob is reluctant to answer that directly, but because of his grumbling, we know it's true."

I hugged him. An Emmett sized bear hug. "Thank you!"

"Bella, I can't breathe," he laughed. "You're welcome. I'm just the messenger though. I had nothing to do with it."

I let him go. "I know, but you're the only one with the courage to come out here and help me. Edward says that they give you a hard time for it, but you keep coming back. I can't tell you how much that means to me."

"They like to give me a hard time no matter what," he joked. "But thanks for saying that. I know exactly how you feel. We've all missed him."

"Is there anything we can do for you, honey?" Esme asked him. "You really have been so helpful."

"No, please don't. I'm happy to do it! I'm just glad that we're friends. That's all I need."

"Speak for yourself," Alice said. "Seth, I'm going to start lining women up to see if you imprint on them. You deserve a girlfriend more then anybody I can think of. You're too kind to waste time looking on your own."

He giggled, blushing. "That's alright, Alice. You don't need to anything for me."

"You're just as stubborn as Bella," she sighed. "I'll leave things in your car while you're at the wedding, then."

Seth stayed for several hours. He was happy to be away from the rough excitement of the pack. He finally decided it was time to get home before they thought he was being held hostage. He went outside, phased, then trotted away.

I suddenly felt the drain too. Edward took me home, stopping to pick dinner up for Charlie and I. When we arrived, Charlie noticed how drastically my mood had changed. There was no way I could tell him that Jacob was coming home, but I did tell him that they knew where he was. I also told him that they were going to keep an eye on him and let him come back as he pleased, because he was someplace safe. At least Charlie's mind was at ease – and he would stop printing those fliers. He was going to talk to Billy, who would be able to come up with a much better story then I had.

We ate and then I showered while Edward waited in my room. I came back and he let me press my wet self against him.

"I'm so glad that you're happy again," he said. "I was beginning to think that things would never go back to being normal again."

"They won't," I sighed. "Jacob will be changed when he comes back. I just know that. It will change even more once we're married."

Edward laughed softly. "I meant you more then the circumstances. I'm expecting that sort of change, I was afraid that this would permanently destroy part of you. You were much more joyful when he was around. I've been so scared that I would never see your spunky side again."

"I was afraid of that too. I've hated being worried all the time. I felt myself beginning to crack. I was so sure you were going to have to commit me."

"I would have padded the walls of Alice's bathroom and kept you in there. You would be the most beautiful psychopath in the world."

We both laughed at that. I began to get drowsy. Edward held me close, massaging my neck. That was the first night in months that I slept through the night without any aid from a pill.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shopping

Alice had been fortunate enough to catch me in such a good mood the next morning that I had agreed to go with her to Port Angeles. It wasn't until I was in her car along with the others that I realized what I'd done. Edward and I shared an iPod in order to escape Alice's chatter and Emmett and Jasper's banter. Rosalie was so busy looking in the rear-view mirror to notice much else.

The drive seemed shorter then it had been before. Probably because we were driving at Cullen speed in a Porsche. It could also have been that the other times I had been there, I hadn't really wanted to go at all. We filed out of the car and began roaming up and down the shops.

Emmett and Jasper had been very excited about their recent purchase of a Wii. They found a gaming store and decided to duck inside before Alice could tell them not to. They were stocking up on remotes more then the games themselves. They had already broken two each.

Rosalie had wanted to get her nails done, but Alice had other ideas. She wanted to wait until acouple days before the wedding so that we could all have them done together. I gave Edward a look and he shrugged. We both knew that fake claws weren't my thing. Still, it wouldn't kill me to do it just once.

Alice found a place that she deemed suitable at last and we went inside.

"Bella will be wearing white, of course. I have to assume that hasn't gone out the window yet and if it has, I don't really want to know. At first I was thinking about red, but that might give ideas. Even if not to us, the wolves might perceive it as some sort of message. Then I thought about green, but knowing the lighting with the clouds, I don't want us all to blend into the background. Gold would be beautiful as a trim of course, but not on anybody. How do you feel about blue then, Bella? You've always looked so lovely around blue."

I heard my cue somewhere in that and knew it was time to tune back in. "Blue?"

"Yes. A light shade of blue because anything dark would make us look too bright. We can't have people noticing before necessary, can we?"She giggled happily.

I saw Rosalie roll her eyes and she moved off towards the back of the shop. Alice frowned, put out quite a bit by her sister's reaction.

"Don't let her get to you," Edward said. "She's only jealous that the wedding isn't for her this time."

"This time?" I asked.

"She and Emmett recommit themselves every decade or so. We have fun with that, even if it isn't the real thing. We can't get completely into it, you understand. She doesn't like to see us going all our for you when we wouldn't for them the last time."

"She'll get over it, too," Edward said. "She's completely fine with everything until we try to include her in the fuss. It's just a nuisance to her. Come on now Alice, I believe you were on to something."

"Ah yes, the blue!"

Alice began to chatter on again. Through it all, we decided that the colors would be a light blue and silver. Alice would be adding white trims and a bit of brown to match my hair. Edward had really liked that idea.

Alice found bridesmaids dresses that she fell in love with right away. I knew she had done that on purpose so that she could fuss over me. She snagged several things off the racks then stuffed me into a dressing room. Edward came after me. Alice gave him a shove back.

"Not you," she scolded. "If we find something to buy then you'll have spoiled the surprise for your wedding. Besides that, I can't believe you would try to sneak in while she's changing. You're getting extremely naughty, I don't see how you plan to make it to your wedding night."

"I'm just trying to protect her from crazed sisters."

"A likely story!"

With that Alice shoved me inside and began the task of stuffing me into dresses. I didn't even want to look at the price tags. Edward would be the last Cullen to get married and they were sparing no expense. I knew the first thing I gave full approval to I would get, no matter what it cost. In truth, I would have been much happier going in my pajamas.

"Bella, that is so adorable!" Alice exclaimed to the third dress she shook me into.

I turned around. It was huge from the waist down, fluffing out in different tiers. The top was no fluffier and was embroidered with shiny beads in no particular pattern.

"Are you kidding me?" I cried. "It's horrible!"

"No it isn't," she pouted. "You're skinny and it fills you out! I love those puffed sleeves. They're a good style on you."

"I look like a marshmellow that's just come out of the oven on top of yams at Thanksgiving! There is no way I'm wearing this. I don't mind an older style, but this is awful!"

"What's going on in there?"came Emmett's voice.

"Torture, apparently," Jasper replied.

"It's about time you two caught up to us. We'll just show it to you then. What do you think?"

Alice opened the door. Edward, Jasper and Emmett all stared at me.

"Oh, well, it's... it's very, um..." Jasper tried.

"You look like a demented cupcake!" Emmett cried.

The three of them burst into laughter. I noticed that even the shopkeeper was trying to keep from snickering. Rosalie poked her head up from one of the racks. She tried to appear unamused but her eyes danced in delight. Edward was too appalled to even speak.

"Ok, ok. Go change again, Bella. Now you three hyenas can hold these and make yourselves useful."

Alice handed them the things for the bridesmaids, including a tiny dress for Claire. The boys picked out tuxedos, which I honestly couldn't tell the difference between. A tux was a tux in my opinion. Alice had taken the liberty of measuring Seth so that they were able to snag one for him.

We ended up at a mall, in a specialized bridal store. That was where I found the dress that deep down I had probably always wanted. There was a bit of a collar on it, but it was only ruffles. The sleeves were a thin, silk net. It had a close fit to my torso, with lace in different tiers going down the center of the front. It came out only a little way from my waist. Enough to give a poof, but not nearly to the extent that Alice had claimed suited me. There were more then a dozen buttons that needed to be done up in the back. Once Alice had finished them, she turned me around.

"Oh, Bella!" She breathed. She gathered me up in a tight hug. "Now you really look like one of us."

I took it back off and dressed as Alice got it back onto the hanger and carefully rolled it up. She wanted to avoid Edward taking a peek. I went out and Alice shooed us away so that she could purchase it without Edward looking over her shoulder. She caught up to us and we went into several other clothing stores so that Alice could get the gifts she had threatened to get for Seth. We also picked out a nice stuffed animal for Claire to have after the wedding.

We spent the rest of the day window shopping until I could hardly stand. Edward plucked me up then and carried me out to the Porsche. I had fallen asleep by the time they had all made their way out to the car. It took even longer for Alice to figure out how to get all of her daily spoils into the trunk.

When we arrived home, Edward took me to my room and put me to bed. He made a show of going out the door because of Charlie, but came back in through the window seconds later. I hadn't noticed any of it. I was deeply asleep, dreaming of silver and blue wolves with brown trims attending my wedding, and Jasper and Emmett running off with a seven layered cake which they ultimately threw at each other.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Party

Seth called the next day. I was very worried at first. I thought that Jacob had changed his mind and his heading back had been just a fluke. I breathed a sigh of relief to hear that Seth was just as happy as ever. Luck had really been on my side lately.

"I just wanted to tell you that Jake is getting closer. He's not going more then five miles a day now. He's almost back in Alaska though. We think he'll be in two weeks. According to his thoughts, he's eager to see us, even if he won't admit it. He'll pick up the pace once he's closer."

"Thanks, Seth. That's great news! How is everything there?" I asked.

"As good as it can be, I guess. Leah isn't so thrilled, but we ignore her. Quil's been trying to teach Claire how to be a flower girl. He's very good at it," Seth laughed.

I laughed too. "Hey, if she can't do it, we'll get another dress and he can."

"She's too excited not to show up," he said. "Are you using real petals or plastic ones?"

"If it were up to me they'd be fake, but knowing Alice, they'll be real. Why?"

"Because I can't promise you that she won't eat them. She's going through this phase where anything that smells good gets put in her mouth."

"It's good roughage! There's nothing wrong with more fiber. Did you need anything else?"

"No, that was it. Leah's giving me the evil eye. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Seth."

I hung up the cell phone Edward had given me. Like everything, it was much too nice. It seemed pretty indestructible too, as I'd dropped in several times. Once had been out of the car and into a pool of water, which is why I never had nice things like that in the first place.

"Bella!" Alice sang. "I've got a present for you. I know you'll love it! It's something that you were going to get anyway, but it will be arriving early now."

"Arriving? Alice, what did you order now? We already have everything!"

"Calm down, you goose. I didn't _order_ anything. I just want to answer the door when our doorbell rings, alright?"

"Alice..."

"You'll be sorry if you don't. Trust me, Bella! You want this very badly."

"Ok. I'll do it. It's not Jacob by any chance, is it?"

"No. I was never in to rounding up strays. Though, if it would really make you that happy, I'm sure I can find a lasso big enough somewhere."

"Alice, stop it!" Though I couldn't keep from laughing. If anybody would put Jacob on a leash, it would be her.

She let me be on my way. I went back to Edward's room to find him in front of the mirror looking frustrated. He saw me come in and smiled.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"This stupid tie," he replied. I noticed that he had all but completely crumpled the tie he was supposed to be wearing for the wedding. "After all these years, I still find it difficult."

"Come here," I sighed. He turned and I started to undo the knot he'd made. "For one thing, this is a tie, not a noose. I never knew why they called it a tie. You aren't really tying it at all."

I showed him how it was done. He looked at it then undid it again and pulled me close to him by my waist.

"Can you show me that again?" Edward flashed his perfectly straight teeth in his crooked smile.

"No, leave it. It makes you look like a rouge."

He pressed his cold lips to mine. I lost all track of time, though I had the fleeting thought that my feet weren't hurting, as I always stretched a bit to kiss him. I realized then that he had lifted me off the floor. I always marveled the fact that I wasn't heavy to him, but he didn't seem to realize he was doing it. He finally pulled away so I could breath.

"Do we have to wait two more weeks?" Edward whispered.

"No. I don't want to – but I want you to feel that you accomplished at least one part of your humanity. Besides, there are too many people that can hear too much in your house."

He reluctantly agreed, so we settled for snuggling in bed. I dozed off without realizing it because when I was woken up by the doorbell, it was several hours later.

"That would be for you," Edward said softly.

I grunted at him in reply, making him laugh.

"My poor, sleepy human. Come on, we can't keep your surprise waiting."

"Yes we can," I groaned. "I'm warm and extremely comfortable, thank you very much."

He sighed. "Always so stubborn."

Edward picked me up and carried me downstairs, where Alice was already waiting. She tsk'd.

"Fix your hair! We don't want her to think that we aren't taking good care of you." Alice quickly ran her fingers through my hair then fixed my shirt. "Alright, open it!"

I opened the door and my jaw dropped in complete shock. "Mom?"

She rushed me in a hug. "Hi, baby! How are you? I've missed you so much!"

"I'm good. What are you doing here now? I thought you weren't coming for another week!"

"Yeah, I know, but I couldn't miss my Bella's bridal shower,"she gushed.

"My...bridal shower...?"

"Surprise!" Alice giggled. "Every bride _must_ have a bachlorette party. Don't worry, it will only be our mothers, Rosalie and I. Not that you couldn't invite others, but I didn't want to force more people on you then necessary."

"Edward gets a party too," Renee said. "We can't leave the gorgeous groom out!"

I wanted to crawl under the house and hide as she gave Edward a big squeeze and kissed him.

"Goodness honey, you're freezing,"she said."Nasty Forks weather. You need to come to Florida and thaw out."

"Yes, I'm sure that would help me out quite a bit,"he replied, giving me a look to say he found that very humorous.

"When exactly is this party?" I asked.

"Tomorrow," Alice said. "That way your mom can get herself settled and rest up for it."

Unfortunately, that meant that Renee had the rest of the day to pester me. She kept asking all of the mother hen questions. No, I had not had sex with him. Yes, he's a wonderful provider and had good plans for his future. No, he had never hit me and would never abuse me – not unless she considered biting me to turn me into a supposedly mythical creature abusive. Needless to say, I clambered back into bed that night, completely exhausted. Edward hadn't even gotten to sing his lullaby before I was fast asleep.

The next morning I called Emily to ask if she would attend the party. She agreed, though Sam wasn't too happy about it. She would be bringing little Claire with her so that Claire could get used to us. Rosalie was more then happy to hear that, since she loved little ones.

I had asked Edward if he knew what they would be doing. As far as I knew, it was the Cullen men and Seth. Edward had been rather surprised by this too and had no idea what they were plotting. Emmett had poked his head in then.

"Nothing to special. Just your normal bachelor party, you know, hitting up a vampire strip club and drinking spiked blood. Then Seth said he would take us skinny diving off the cliffs."

Edward chased him out of his room, both boys laughing. "I assure you that he's only joking." But my wary look didn't help convince him. "Really, Bella. There are no vampire strip clubs and there isn't anyway to spike blood. Even if there were I would never participate. As far as the skinny dipping, even Emmett would be too chicken to do that. You have nothing to worry about."

Nothing, that was, but my own party. It finally rolled around and the boys took off. Emily arrived with Claire, who was excited to see a new place. Alice had decorated the living room with the wedding colors. I was dreading opening the pile of gifts she had accumulated by the piano.

Alice had set food trays out on the table. We all sat in the living room, talking and laughing. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I was enjoying myself. Claire was sitting on Rosalie's lap. They had become fast friends. She was trying to do Rosalie's hair and for once, Rosalie didn't seem to care about her appearance.

There was a sudden, awkward silence. I had answered all of their questions and we temporarily ran out of things to say. Luckily, Claire hadn't. She suddenly spied what Alice had set out.

"Cheeeese!" She squealed, making the rest of us laugh again.

As she began stuffing her pudgy cheeks, Renee took a decorated notebook out.

"This is a little something I thought that we could start for the new couple. Now they can get to know each other even better through us. I want you to write down a funny memory you have of Bella, or of Bella and Edward as a couple. We gave one to the boys too, so you can write something about Edward later."

Something funny? I had embarrassed myself so many times around the Cullens, but I didn't think it was funny at all. Alice would have plenty to say, but what about Rosalie? I wasn't sure how well Emily and Esme knew me and my mom knew me all too well. After they were all done writing, my mom asked them to share something, but it didn't have to be what they had written.

Emily started. "The boys are all very funny, but they don't always know how to treat a lady. I had made muffins that day but they seemed to be disappearing faster then usual. That was when I observed them boys tearing them into small pieces and filling up Bella's sweatshirt hood. They let her walk around like that and apparently ate them later while Jake was driving to the beach. She didn't notice until she saw them in the rear-view mirror."

Yes, I remembered that. At least they hadn't left them there to get soggy. After the laughter died down, Esme told her story, then Rosalie, Alice and finally my mom.

"Bella's always had a mind of her own. When she was a toddler, we took her to the airport go back to grandma's house. Her gran loved to read the newspaper, but that meant Bella wasn't getting her attention. She'd taken to smacking the back of the paper to disrupt her, but they made it a game. She got bored while we were waiting for the plane to come in, but she suddenly waddled off on us. We saw her going up to an old man a row over. He had his coffee and was reading his morning paper. Bella ran right up, smacked it out of his hands and yelled 'Boo!' We were very lucky he had a good sense of humor."

Everybody laughed. The newspaper story had been one of the longest running jokes in my family. Edward was incredibly lucky that he was seventeen by the time Carlisle knew him.

Then came the games. We played bridal Pictionary. I felt sorry my team, since I'd always been an awful artist. Then it was pass the bouquet. We played music and passed around a bouquet of paper roses. The person holding the roses when it stopped was out. Claire won and got to keep the flowers. Just for fun, we played Apples to Apples.

Finally, Alice couldn't stand the anticipation anymore and demanded that I open my gifts. I set to it, glad that Jasper was gone in case I gave myself a paper cut again. I opened Emily's first. Being an excellent chef, she had given me all sort of kitchen things, including a book full of recipes. She knew that I only cooked for myself, but didn't want to get bored with what I made, which I usually was. I was extremely grateful for that.

Then it was Rosalie's present. It was full of his and hers items. "You may be glad to share now, but you'll love this later. Emmett is always stealing my things."

I thanked her then moved on to Esme's gift. It was an envelope that contained an extremely generous amount to a housewares store. Edward and I were going to redo his room so that it would fit the both of us. This was really going to come in handy because I was too indecisive. I had liked everything he'd suggested in the stores we had been in.

Then Alice handed me my mother's gift. She had given me a whole array of household items. Nestled down at the bottom of one box was several pairs of sheer nightgowns, labeled wedding night attire. I turned red but hugged her anyway.

Alice giggled, handing me her gift. I could feel that it was a large bag, but she had wrapped it all up in tissue paper. When I undid it, I wanted to scream and possibly live in my truck for the rest of my life. I had recognized the familiar pink stripes of Victoria's Secret. Alice had packed the bag with every sort of frilly, lacy and provocative lingerie she could find. The rest of the women squealed and laughed. To my horror, that wasn't all that was in the bag. There were massage oils, something called 'The Instruction Manuel For Your Wedding Night' with a very suggestive picture on the cover and other things that Edward and I were supposed to enjoy in bed.

"Don't look so surprised, honey. You would have been buying them for yourself sooner or later!" Renee said.

That sparked a whole new conversation – one that I was too embarrassed to hear. Just as I had gotten good at blocking it out, the front door opened. Emmett charged inside, wearing only a towel around his waist.

"Hey ladies! I hear there's a bachlorette in the house! Where's the special girl?" He came over to us, then whipped his towel off, swinging it over his head. Luckily he was wearing his swimming trunks underneath.

We all screamed then burst out laughing.

"Go away, Emmett!" Alice giggled, getting up and shoving him. "You're ruining the atmosphere – and our vision."

Emmett gasped in dramatic offense then went upstairs. We decided to end our party then, which relieved me. I slunk off to bed, but fell asleep before Edward came up. When I woke the next morning, I was buried in his chest.

"Good morning," he smiled, running his fingers through my hair.

I smiled at him, self-conscious of my morning breath.

"Did you enjoy yourself last night?"

"Every so often," I replied. "For the most part it was great, but my mother and Alice seemed to be in a contest to who could make me more red."

Edward laughed. "I wish I could have been there."

"Me too. What were you doing?"

"Not too much. We went hunting then met up with Seth. After that we went cliff diving and had a campfire. Just a bunch of man things."

"You didn't by any chance get anything... naughty, did you?"

"No," he chuckled. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I did!" I cried. "Alice gave me an entire bag full of unmentionables!"

Edward began laughing. "I expected as much. If not now, she would have done it for our wedding gift. Can I see what you got?"

"No. That will be my gift to you," I said.

Once I was dressed, we spent the day relaxing in our meadow, which is all I had wanted to do for days. Thankfully, that was all we did do in the days creeping up to our wedding.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Arguments And Homecoming

Two days before the wedding, Edward and I were planning the honeymoon. He had been all over the world and had told me that now it was my turn. I couldn't even think of where I would like to go the most. As dreary and stormy as Forks was, there was something that had intrigued me about rainforests since I was a child. Before I knew it, Edward had booked a two week stay in the heart of the Amazon. The Cullens knew a vampire clan there. This clan was vegetarian as well and they had opened a getaway of sorts for humans. They were more then happy to accommodate Edward and I, understanding that we would need something pretty private. Neither of us had any idea of what to expect out of our first time. They had given us our own private living space, spaced a a bit farther from the rest of resort.

"Is that where it's going to happen?" I asked.

"What?"

"When you bite me," I reminded him. "That was supposed to happen too."

Edward groaned then sighed. "I know it."

"You know it, but...?"

"But I would rather wait. I would like to have you as my wife for awhile and not have to worry about your newborn self. I want you to be what I've always loved."

That struck me. "You mean, you won't love me when I'm a vampire?"

"No, no that isn't it at all. It will change you in some way. A lot of times it's drastic. I just want you to stay my Bella."

"Then I'll have to ask Carlisle to change me," I said. I could feel my eyes starting to swim with tears. "I don't want to get any older. I'm nineteen now. It's too old to be a teenager the way you are, but at least it's still a teen. If I hit twenty, that'll be gone."

"You know that it doesn't matter to me, Bella. I'll love you no matter what age you are."

"But it matters to me! I want to be happy with me too. I can't do that if I know that I'm that much older then you are."

"I'm over a century old. You can't ever be as nearly as old as I am. Did you ever stop to think that I feel the same way? I should have died years ago. I should have been an old man in a retirement home. I should have been feeble and wrinkled, with horrible hearing and eyesight. But I'm not. I'm just very old on the inside. I always worried about being too dull because of how I was raised and all of my interests. I know I say things that may not make sense to you because of the time period difference. I hate being this old as much as you do."

"Then why are you still trying to put it off? You promised this to me, Edward."

"I'm not trying to put it off. I did make a promise and I intend to keep it. I just want you to understand that you aren't the only one who feels too old."

I buried myself into him. I never really had thought about it that way before. I hadn't know he felt that way. I knew he thought I may not understand him because he wasn't human, but I had no idea it had to do with his age too. Edward put his hands under my arms and put me up on his hip so that we were face to face.

"I'm sorry I got angry at you," he said, kissing my forehead. "This is no way to start out, is it?"

"No. I'm sorry too. I know you just want the best for me. I guess I just don't listen very well."

"Maybe that's because I say things the wrong way. I love you anyway. I'll always know how to say that."He kissed me deeply, then wiped at my eyes. "There's another reason I thought we should wait too, and it has nothing to do with my worries or your age."

"What is it?"

"I thought you might want to see Jacob as a human one last time. Since we're not quite sure how you'll turn out, it may be the last time you see him for quite some time."

"You would do that for me?"

"Yes. I know that it's important to you."

"I can wait then, if that's the case. I'd like that a lot, now that I think about it. It'd mean a lot to him too."

"I'm sure it would," he said.

I could tell he didn't exactly care about Jacob's feelings on the situation. I was glad that he had made the offer though. I hadn't even thought of that. It was the least I could do for Jacob, to give him one last good-bye.

Edward and I decided to look at more photos of where we would be going on our honeymoon. We would be very close to the Amazon River, and apparently there were small waterfalls close by. The pictures showed all sorts of wildlife. Knowing me, I would step on a crocodile or find the only part of the water infested by piranhas. Edward laughed and assured me that those kinds of creatures wouldn't be around where we were staying, though he almost hoped there were. He hadn't tasted a crocodile in a long time.

That was something I hadn't thought about either. I wasn't sure how quickly sex drained a vampire of their blood, especially when it was with a human. There were all types of different animals there that were only found in zoos around us. Edward was sure to enjoy himself. I had to make sure he wasn't going to harm the small monkeys, bush-babies, or other animals that I deemed too adorable for dinner. He agreed, but wasn't willing to let me take one home unless it was stuffed.

When we went downstairs later that afternoon, I was in complete shock to see that Alice had decorated the entire lower level for the wedding.

"You couldn't wait any longer?" I guessed.

"Yes...and no," she smiled, winking at Edward.

"What do you mean? What's going on?" I hated it when they silently communicated.

"You'll get a phone call in another hour and you'll want to move the wedding up. Just think, in two days, you'll get to make use of my wonderful bridal shower present!"

"Two days?" I gasped. "But – but why? Because of a call? The Volturi don't have phones, do they?"

"No," Alice laughed. "I mean, they do, but that isn't it. This is a very good thing for you."

"Alice, tell me!"

"This is your last surprise, Bella. I promise," she grinned, then trotted off.

I groaned miserably and kept my eye on the clock. Sure enough, in an hour, my phone rang. It was Seth.

"Hell-"

"BELLA!" Seth shouted, interrupting my greeting. "He's back Bella! Jacob's back!"

"What? He is?!" I was yelling now too. "How did he get back so fast?"

"We can cover a lot of ground when we really want to," he replied. "He got in really late last night."

"Where is he?"

"In bed," Seth laughed. "He asked about you, you know. He wanted to know if you had married Edward yet, but I told him no. I said you were too worried about him and _he _says he's sorry. He feels pretty guilty now."

"He...he does?" I had expected more anger, but guilt? Then I asked rather stupidly, "Why?"

"Because he didn't come back alone, Bella. He's got an imprint."

"Really? You mean, he imprinted on somebody or somebody imprinted on him?"

"It went both ways, actually. You were right though, he did come back pretty changed, but it's a good thing. He was so sorry for leaving. He's really, I don't know, gentle, now, I suppose. He loves her so much and she follows him around like,well, like a puppy."

I laughed. "Do you think he'd answer if I call him?"

"Probably, but do it later. They were both extremely tired and I have a feeling they'll sleep all day."

"Ok. Thank you so much Seth! You sure I can't bring you some sort of dog treat for all your trouble?"

"Hey now, that's not cool," he laughed. "I keep telling you, it wasn't any trouble, Bella. I know Alice has got it in for me, so don't you give me anything too."

"Alright. I'm sure the boys are going wild, so I'll let you get back to them."

"Ok, bye."

I hung up, feeling like I was on Cloud Nine. Edward and I went out for the day, because I couldn't be contained in the house. I wanted to rush over to La Push, just to see Jacob for myself and make sure that he was ok.

There was another part of me that was strangely upset though. I wanted to be happy that he had a girlfriend now, but part of him was still _my_ Jake. I felt that being taken from me. I didn't even want to admit it to myself, but I was extremely jealous of whoever she was.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Wedding

((To my readers: I am soooo sorry, but ch 4 will not upload for anything! I'm moving on but will try to put it in as soon as I can. Thanks!!))

I waited for as long as I could before I called Jacob, which wasn't very long at all. Every hour that passed was torture. Edward seemed so sad during this time. I knew it was because all I was thinking of was another guy. He had tried to be happy for me and I didn't mean to push him away with my joy, but I knew he felt very left out.

I dialed Jacob's number with a lump in my throat. I was surprised to hear that it was him who picked up.

"What now?" He groaned.

"What...?" Was he still mad at me? I was very confused.

"Bella?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Bella! I'm sorry," he laughed. "I thought you were one of the pack. They keep calling me, asking if I'm ok – and I am. I'm just tired"

"I can call you later, if you need to sleep," I offered, though I really didn't want to hang up.

"Nah, you're fine. I've been hoping you would call. I've got time for you, the boys are just exhausting." Jacob sighed and it was quiet for a bit. "Hey, look, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk. I didn't realize how much I was hurting you until I imprinted. If somebody ever tried to take her from me... well, I'm just surprised now that Edward didn't kill me. I wouldn't have any tolerance for anybody trying to get my Raine."

"Raine?"

"Yeah, that's her name. I just can't believe now how terrible I've been. I know how both of you felt. I can't apologize enough, Bella."

"I know, Jake. Thanks. It'll be better now, for all of us."

"Do you think... can I talk to Edward?"

"Oh? Yeah, sure." I prodded Edward, who was trying to pretend he wasn't listening.

I handed him the phone. Edward listened to him, but didn't reply for a long time. Then he shooed me away. I was extremely nervous. I couldn't imagine what he was possibly going to say to him. As I stood in the hallway chewing my thumb, Alice came by.

"Don't look so worried," she said. "Men don't like to show their feelings in front of women. Especially if they're directing it toward another man. He only wants to thank Jacob. Trust me, I've lived with this for decades."

I reluctantly agreed as she disappeared into her room. Finally, Edward let me back in, smiling at me and nodded. He handed the phone back to me.

"So...?" I asked Jacob.

"So at least he isn't going to kill me. I have a feeling I'm going to be smacked upside the head though."

I laughed, relieved. "Are we all friends then?"

"That'll take quite a while. We're starting fresh, though. We can push this far away. Does that sound good?"

"It sounds excellent," I replied. "Will you come to the wedding then?"

"Bella, I would love that, but I can't. I'm _so_ sorry. Raine is very shy. Shy doesn't really even cover it. She's had a pretty hard life and she isn't strong enough to leave the house. I can still do what I need to around here, but she really needs me. She follows me closely. I tried leaving her on her own and it pretty well destroyed her."

"Really? Do you have time to tell me what's wrong?"

Jacob went on to tell me how he met her. Apparently she had imprinted on him as he passed through Canada. She had followed him at a good distance, too afraid of his reaction to approach him. Then doing something that I would have done, Raine fell over a log and tumbled down a hill into where Jacob had set up camp. They had been together since then.

He told me that Raine had been the victim of abuse from other packs. As a child, she had wandered away from her parents and was adopted by a vegetarian vampire clan. Once she had first phased, they were unable to live together anymore. The clan had dropped her off near a pack then left. The males of that pack were opposed to women. Raine had been attacked and had run off. She had tried several others with the same results. The worst attacks left burn like scars from her right eye to the lobe of her right ear, a puffy white line in the shape of a hook above her lip and broad line cutting through her left eyebrow down to the bottom eyelid. She was extremely embarrassed about her face and rarely came out of her wolf form, which he said was pure white.

All of the anguish Raine had been through had taken another toll on her. Jacob thought that perhaps it was because she had been made to feel so small, but whatever the reason, she had a mental block. She had reverted back to being a small child, probably the same age as Claire. She got spooked very easily and would cry. Hearing that, I couldn't blame Jacob for not being able to attend the wedding. Raine needed special care. She needed Jake. It wasn't right to force her out when we had means of showing Jacob our wedding in other ways.

Alice went by his house the next day. Jacob had made sure they knew that she was welcome. She hooked up a webcam to their computer so that he could see our wedding. It felt odd to reserve a seat for a laptop.

In two days, I was stuffed into my wedding dress. Alice had put my half of my hair up very ornately and let the rest hang down in large curls. I was sure that all of the hair spray she had used would melt the bobby pins and my hair would fall out in clumps.

I shut my mind down until I realized I was standing outside with Charlie, looking down the aisle. Claire, of course, had gone before me. The tension went away as I watched her dump the remained of the pink petals in Edward's hands and put the little basket over her head.

"Hi Quiiil!" She shouted, waving both arms excitedly.

As everybody laughed, he swiftly got up and took her back to his seat, where she crawled onto his lap. I heard her demand gum for 'acting like a big girl'. I had to realize then that everything was still normal. Special, yes, but still normal.

I only stumbled once going down the aisle. I wasn't sure that anyone had noticed. I got to the end and Charlie stepped away so that Edward could take me. He lifted my veil, to my great relief. Clumsy people shouldn't be allowed in that fashion.

"Alright, then," Emmett started. Correction – _Pastor_ Emmett. "You're all sitting here because these two lovebirds want to be married. Also because Edward has been virtuous and doesn't want to be so much anymore."

The small crowd burst into laughter. Even Alice.

"Don't you dare make me hit a clergy man," Edward threatened under his breath.

Emmett sighed deeply. "Fine, have it your way. Dearly beloved, we are gather here today..."

And so it began. Edward and I had switched 'until death do us part' with 'as long as you both shall live'. At least, I hoped I lived through the transformation. After the I do's, Edward decided to make a show of himself and dipped me for the kiss. Then he picked me up and carried me down the aisle. Everybody migrated inside the Cullen's house for the reception then, and not a moment too soon. It had started pouring rain by the time we got the laptop inside.

Jacob was still connected, so I set it down to say hi.

"Congrats," he grinned. "Though I'm still upset that I didn't get to throw rice at you."

I stuck my tongue out at him and we laughed. He turned his head then.

"Raine, can you say hello to Bella?" There was a little whine from behind him. "It's alright, pretty girl. Bella is twelve whole miles away. Even so, she would never hurt you. See? She's just on the screen. You're safe."Jacob turned back to face me. "She'll say hi."

A few seconds later, two pointy white ears and large blue eyes poked up from behind him. She blinked at me for a second, then brought up a large white paw and waved. Then she disappeared.

"Aw Jake, she's beautiful! She looks smaller then you though, as a wolf."

"She is. She only a little larger then a regular sized wolf."

"Will she grow?"

"We're hoping she will. I'll let you go now, Bellz. Raine is slinking off to bed and I think I'll go too."

"Alright. Thanks for being here."

"No problem."

We shut off the cameras. I went to cut the cake then, and true to his word, Edward decorated my face with frosting. I meant to put mine in his face, but he dodged it at the last second. It was Seth who ended up with a face full of designer wedding cake. I sure was lucky that that kid had such a great sense of humor.

The crowd finally dwindled down. My mom would be leaving the next morning, so we said a hearty good-bye. Loaded up with hugs and kisses from the Cullens and my parents, Edward helped me into the white limousine that Alice had booked and we headed off to begin our honeymoon.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Half-Fulfilled Promise

The plane ride was extremely long, but smooth. We had to take a shorter flight into California before making the stretch to Brazil. I fell asleep through most of it because I tended to get airsick. It was entirely different in first class. The seats were actual comfortable. Edward and I leaned our seats back and I snuggled into him for my nap. I learned that first class hogged the good pillows and nice blankets. I woke up as the plane was landing, which had never been a fun ride for me.

The time hadn't changed too drastically, but I was still extremely tired from the travel. It was nearly one in the morning by the time we arrived. We found a man in a suit waiting for us, with a sign that had our names on it. He led us out to another limo and we drove another few hours to our destination.

I was so sleepy the I couldn't take in much of the scenery. Edward checked us in and a tram took us to our room. I was extremely confused. All I could see was a tree. Edward gently reminded me that we had a treetop home to ourselves. I agreed with him and he laughed.

We went up an elevator. Edward picked me up and carried me into the room. Our bellboy put the bags down and Edward thanked him. This boy was part of the vampire clan and wouldn't accept a tip. They were nearly as wealthy as the Cullens.

I was fumbling around with different things and Edward stopped me.

"Bella, you're too tired. Just go to bed now, love."

"But weren't we going to -"

"We can have fun tomorrow," he replied. "Right now you need your rest."

I was much too tired to argue. He helped me out of my dress and we went to bed. Almost as soon as I hit the pillow, I was out.

I couldn't move too well when I woke up. Edward had tucked me up in the sheets so he could lay next to me. I really had to wiggle my way out this time. When my hand came out, it was with such force that I nearly punched him in the stomach.

"Hey, I don't think I deserved that," he said.

"I have to get out of this cocoon some way," I replied.

I pulled the sheet up over both of us then, scooting right into him. My whole body got chilly very quickly. I realized that I was naked. I ran my hand down Edward's back to where his boxers normally were. To my even greater embarrassment, I realized that he was too. My eyes nearly popped out of my head.

"Have I made you uncomfortable?" he asked, worriedly.

"No, it just surprised me. I'm so used to you being... _not_ naked."

Edward laughed. "I still dazzle you?"

"Of course."

We kissed for a very long time. He was finally free to loose control with me. His icy hands were all over me, but I was surprisingly warm. He decided to let me get up and have a good stretch before our day's festivities.

I got up and took a much needed shower. I couldn't decide whether or not to eat, but ultimately decided not to. I was too nervous. When I came out, Edward was standing in the sun, looking out one of the large picture windows, shining brightly.

"What are you doing?" I gasped. "Stop exposing your areas to everyone!"

Edward laughed. "Bella, We're in the top of a tree, facing the rest of the woods. No one could see up here, not even if they were trying to look. Though I have seen some birds eyeballing me. Come here."

I went up to him and he snuggled me close. He ran his fingers through my damp hair. I could feel him looking me up and down – more down then up, that is. I couldn't stop myself from looking either. I had finally satisfied my curiosity. Vampires were indeed perfectly muscled and shone _every_where.

Edward picked me up and carried me to bed. He kissed me for a very long time and let my fingers creep where they may. He finally asked in a whisper if I was ready. I was. It was all I had wanted for months now.

"Make sure you tell me if I hurt you at all, Bella. I'm very serious. I don't want to crush you."

But, that would be the way to go, I thought. I agreed, knowing that it would be painful in any case. He moved to sit gingerly on me, putting his hands behind my back and lifting me up to kiss me again. If anybody had been outside, they may have thought an Amazonian critter had gotten in and was growling at me, but I knew my Edward. He was purring deeply. He finally laid me down again and with great care, let it begin.

"You can touch it, if you'd like,"he told me.

I gave a small, playful laugh and gently stroked him with my fingertips. I heard him draw in a deep breath and saw him getting goosebumps. Then I felt myself being caressed. It was only down my arms and sides at first, but I soon felt Edward's warm hands under my breasts, then right on them. He felt my nipples tenderly, then pinched them softly.

I was totally enthralled by Edward's manhood. His pubic hair was a little darker then I'd expected, but not like mine. It was a lot thinner then mine as well. I ran my hand over it again and again, feeling it's foreign form. For something so hard, the skin sure was silky and soft. He let my fingers explore the tiny hole at his tip. I ran the edge of my pointer fingertip across the top of it. Edward gasped, pulling me close and grasping my bottom tightly.

"That feels so amazing,"he told me.

"Oh good, I thought I'd hurt you."

"Nah...not much hurts it, unless you sock me there."

I continued my examination of his nether regions. I played with the ridge of his pale penis. For some reason I didn't know, it interested me greatly. I played again with his tiny hole, but as I pulled my finger away was shocked to see it wet.

He laughed softly."That's a little pre-cum right there."

"You get wet too?" I was half joking, but still curious.

"Only a little. I leak out for different reasons then you do though."

Edward scooted closer to me so that I wouldn't have to reach down so far. Then I began to play with his balls. It was strange to me that I could really feel their shape and move them around a bit. It was so soft and fleshy. I enjoyed tugging it gently and massaging it through my fingers.

Edward put his arm over mine and I felt his cool fingertips exploring me. He ran his fingers in and out of the V shape of my big lips. He didn't have to go very far to find my nodule of pleasure. He gently stroked it out of it's sheath, making me purr. Edward found my opening and ran his finger around it. He paused.

"May I?"

I nodded. Edward licked his middle finger then brought it back down to me. He gently pushed it inside. I groaned slightly. Edward put his other hand behind my neck and kissed me as he moved his finger inside of me. At first he moved it in and out, then wiggled and swirled it. He kissed my lips passionately again, then took his finger out. He slid himself down so he could look at me. He gently parted my lips. I blushed, but was pleased as he gazed down curiously. He poked at my orifice of happiness. He ran his finger along my opening, watching the wetness, amused. Finally he bent over and kissed it deeply.

Then he knelt back up and spread my legs farther apart, positioning himself directly between them.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

I was suddenly extremely nervous, but I nodded anyway.

"Sure?"

I nodded again. I was afraid that I would only squeak if I spoke. I was eying Edward's hardness. It had hurt slightly when he'd put his finger inside of me. How was I supposed to take that?

"Are you alright?" He went back up to my head, stroking my hair.

"Yeah... I'm just so tiny." I cupped his penis in my hands. "And now this seems so huge to be going in down there."

"Aw, baby. Are you afraid of me?"

"No, not of you. I just don't like pain. It's supposed to hurt pretty bad the first time."

Edward took me in his arms."I've been told that too. I'll go slow though and be as gentle as I can. I don't mind it if you tell me to stop, either. We can do it a little at a time."

I thought about that."Actually, I think it's be better just to get it over with now. No matter what. I want it to be able to get better each time. So, just ignore me – I know it'll hurt pretty bad, but just keep going."

"Ok, if that's what you want."

We kissed for a long while again before Edward slid back down.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Edward parted my private lips again. He made sure I was wet enough, then stroked himself several times. He held himself at his base and rubbed his tip around my area. He almost went it a couple of times, but it had slipped out. Finally he groaned.

"Can you help guide me in?"

I reached down and took his tip between my thumb and pointer finger. I put it right at my opening. "It's there."

"Thanks. Here it goes then."

Edward still held himself and very softly began to nudge himself inside. He got his head in, which pained me only a little. He asked if me was still ok, then began going farther. He got himself another half inch in when I first flinched. Edward did a good job of ignoring it. He pushed farther in. It hurt terribly. I'd never felt anything like it before. It was burning and slightly cutting. I could definitely feel my insides stretching to accommodate his width. I didn't realize how hard I was clenching her teeth to deal with it.

Edward's thrusting was becoming a bit more rapid and slightly harder. He inched farther and farther in, until he was covered halfway. Then I cried out in pain. He stopped immediately, panting.

"I'm alright,"I lied.

He attempted a few more more thrusts before looking up and seeing the tears running down my face.

"I can't get in,"he told me, wiping my eyes."You're just so tight."

"You don't have to be gentle anymore. Just force it."

"Really? But..."

"No, please. I'll be ok." Sooner or later, I thought.

Edward resumed his thrusting, harder. Much harder. He had to stop and take a few deep breaths, then took a different approach. Instead of rapid thrusts, he pulled out a little ways and pushed hard and deep, slowly. It was agony. I could feel something beginning to tear inside of me. I knew it was only the little membrane being broken through. I had never pictured myself actually being able to feel my virginity leaving frame by frame. Edward knelt up a little bit, angling his penis, then gave short rapid thrusts. Then, with one last, forceful shove, he suddenly slid even closer to me, almost loosing his balance.

"There, I'm in," he panted. "Oh princess, you're doing so great." Edward kissed my tear-stained face.

"Yeah?" I barely recognized her own voice. It was much higher and seemed almost sweeter.

Edward continued thrusting, slowly, as if testing the foreign area. Then faster and more animal-like. He grabbed onto my hair. It was obvious that he really was a virgin as well. He was very unsteady, shaking slightly in his position on top of me. He kept moaning and gasping slightly. Sometimes he growled a little.

Suddenly, I looked up at him. He had been looking at me as well and I found myself staring right into his deep golden eyes. The connection was amazing. He drove his tongue into my mouth. Then pulled back to look at me again. There was something in his eyes and the way he kissed me. I realized he was frustrated. Edward was used to pleasuring his own self and his penis didn't quite know what to make of the sheath of my vagina yet.

I grasped Edward's butt, pulling him all the way in. I could feel his balls against my backside and his pubic hair tickled my firm clitoris. Edward gasped, his own voice higher too. Then, not knowing where the idea came from, I slid my hand between us and grabbed his balls.

Edward cried out this time, and growled, thrusting vigorously. He intertwined his fingers in my hair again, audibly moaning every few seconds. Then I felt something. It started like a little tingle in my clitoris, then spread like a burning pleasure around my private lips, inside and out. I wrapped my legs around Edward's waist and nearly sat up.

"I think... I just came," I told him.

His only response was to kiss my neck, happily. After a few more minutes, Edward almost whimpered. "I'm gonna come." He rode me with a frenzy of small, jerking motions. "I'm coming... oh, god, Bella, I'm coming." Edward let up a little, stirring himself inside of me. I felt a very slight something inside of me and knew he had just peaked. Then he very slowly pulled out of me.

Edward laid on top of me, licking at my lips, then kissing me with a new, fiery passion. After our breathing became normal again, he got up from me. He looked down at his genitals and wore an expression of complete shock.

His penis, scrotum, bits of pubic hair and his inner thighs were covered in blood. My own thighs and vagina were soaked too. There was also a rather large puddle of a thick red, tan and white substance. Our combined fluids.

"Are you alright, pet?" He asked. "Look, there's so much blood."

I looked and was just as shocked as he was. "I'm pretty sore right now. I didn't think I would bleed that way. I'm supposed to though, so that's fine. It'll be alright. We sure made a mess."

Edward beeped my nose. "You made the mess!"

I kissed his biceps. He put his arms around me and then he picked me up and we went to the shower to cleaned each other off.

Several hours later, Edward and I headed down to a large hot tub to relax. He had taken Angelica, the head of the clan, aside and thoroughly apologized for the damage to the bed. Edward had put his arms under mine, but his fingers had left five deep holes on either side of me. He had also left holes from his toes in the mattress. Angelica had laughed. Apparently, Emmett had done the same thing, which was more then I cared to know. They were more then willing to replace it at no charge to us.

I was lucky that he had gotten used to my blood because there had been quite a bit of it. Edward had not bitten me, though. It had gone from the top of the comforter to the first layer of the mattress pad. He explained that he wouldn't have wanted it anyway. Any blood coming from that region of the body was dirty, because it was not only blood.

We finally got out and decided to explore. We trekked through the woods. I was happy that I had packed as much bug spray as I had. Mosquitoes were everywhere but flew away as soon as they landed on me. The expensive bug spray really was the best.

"Stupid, useless bugs," I said, waving more away from my face.

"Really now? That's quite interesting. You do realize that I am really nothing more then a a very large, humanoid mosquito?"

"Don't you try that. You're a person and anyway, there aren't thousands of you attacking me at once."

He laughed and put his arm around me. The bugs gave us a pretty wide berth then. None of them were pleased with Edward's presence.

We ended up at a hands-on type of zoo. We were allowed to touch every sort of tropical animal imaginable. Most of them loved me, but were wary of Edward. They were suspicious of his intentions but he did his best not to appear the predator. They began to trust him, one curious monkey even deciding to see what Edward could be hiding in his hair. Though they weren't native to the Amazon, a woman was walking around with two wolves on a leash. One was Red Wolf, who I gave a large hug to. I'm sure she questioned my mental state.

We spent our days over the next two weeks playing under waterfalls and enjoying all the accommodations of the resort itself. They had a large poolside bar and grill. There were water slides, a lazy river, mini-golfing and gift shops galore. Edward left me alone for an hour every other night to feed from large snakes and other obnoxious predators. He even rescued a bush-baby from a poacher net and brought him back to me. I had to let it go in the morning which upset me, but it had been fun while it lasted.

During the night we continued our newlywed escapades. I even broke into the lingerie Alice had given me. The only bruises Edward had given me were the ones on my neck from kissing me too passionately. Otherwise, I didn't see what he had been so worried about.

The two weeks ended too quickly for the both of us, but we also wanted to get back home. We thanked the clan and made our way back to the airport. I fell asleep again on the plane. We had left in the morning, so when we got back to Forks, we had enough time to tell the eager Cullens about our trip.

They loved our pictures, especially the shot I had taken of the monkey picking through Edward's hair. He had presents for them as well. Edward had hoodwinked security and had brought back an entire duffel bag full of well-preserved hearts of tropical creatures. I found it disgusting, but I realized it was a rare, precious gift to the family. They were very happy for both of us.

I was going up to our room when Emmett poked Edward.

"So..?" he asked, winking.

"It was killer," Edward replied. "Absolutely amazing!"

I didn't understand what they were talking about until they began laughing and slapped a high five.

"Men," Alice said, disgustedly, coming up behind me. "Just ignore them. Come on Bella, I want to hear more!"

Alice took me to her room where we talked until I was too sleepy to talk anymore. She returned me to Edward then and we spent our first night together in the Cullen house as a married couple.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Raine

Several days after our return, I called Jacob again. Edward's immunity to my blood was finally complete and it was time for my change. I let Jacob know what was going on. He seemed alright with it, though there was also a sadness I hadn't heard in him before. Edward and I got into the Volvo and went the twelve miles to La Push and on to Jacob's home.

Billy was surprised to see that Edward had accompanied me, but no longer seemed angry. He told us that we would find Jake in his usual hideout of the garage. We went around the side then, I made it a few steps in when Edward stopped me. That's when I heard a low growl and Jacob laughing.

"It's alright, you can come in," he said. We heard him go on to somebody else, "Who do you think you're growling at, hm? You gonna get 'em? Or are you just being my tough fluff?"

Jacob was sitting on a large plastic barrel in front of an open hooded car. As we approached I saw a white flash dive under the car. He got up to hug me and shook Edward's hand. I tried to hide my huge grin at this gesture. A sudden pitiful howl startled me.

"Ohh, stop that," Jacob laughed. He went back to where he had been sitting, motioning for us to follow. "You're safe, Raine, I'm right here. I wouldn't invite anybody over that I knew would hurt you. The Cullens are friends. They like you."

Edward tried to step closer but Jacob stopped him.

"You have to wait for her. Seth tried to run up and hug her. It scared her to death and she bit him."

"Is he ok?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah, he's good. He understood why she did it. But we were very sorry, weren't we?"

Raine made a little noise of agreement.

"They're pretty good friends now. She's never been to pack that had imprints before and she's loving the other girls. She'll leave me to follow Emily now. Raine loves Claire too, even though Claire pulls the ears and tail. She thinks Leah's real cool, but unfortunately Leah isn't very friendly, is she?"

She made a soft sound that really sounded like 'no'.

"Come on, pretty girl. Can't you come out? They just want to see you," Jacob begged. "Besides, it's dirty under there. Dirty Raine's take baths around here and I know you don't really like that."

She whined at him again, in more of a pouting tone. She had her furry head on his foot. Jacob began to bounce it up and down gently.

"Bowrowrowrowrowrow!" Raine woofed, enjoying what the bouncing did to her vocal chords.

Jacob laughed. "You're silly today, aren't you?"

She smiled up at him. Finally, very slowly, she crawled out from under the car. She shook her white coat out. It looked like silky velvet. Now I was very jealous. She was so beautiful. As a wolf, it was impossible to tell she had been hurt. The fur hid her scars. Raine had bright blue eyes that were both curious and frightened. She looked at Edward and I for only a short time before burying her face into Jacob. She was whining nervously.

"Hey now," Jacob said softly. "Shh, everything's ok. I know you're scared. I know, baby. I love you and I won't let anything happen to you."

He kissed Raine between her eyes, then by her left ear. He put her forehead on his neck and began whispering soothingly in Quileute. She finally stopped her crying then looked at Edward and I again. Jacob told us that he thought it would be alright to come up to her.

"Hello Raine," Edward said softly, slowly making his way up to her. He squatted down two feet form them. "My name is Edward. I'm sure that Jacob has told you about me. Hopefully it hasn't been all bad things. He's told us quite a bit about you. He said that you were pretty, but I think he underexaggerated. You're such a gorgeous girl! I have never seen a white wolf with my own eyes before."

"Bowr?" Raine still hid in Jacob, but turned her head enough to stare at him with her right eye.

"Yes, really! There aren't very many white wolves left, you know. You're really special. You know, I think that anybody who hurt you was just jealous. They knew that you were too pretty for them."

She blinked at him, the wiggled away from Jake and went cautiously toward Edward.

"Aw honey, would you like a hug?" he asked.

Raine rushed into him and Edward gave her a big squeeze. I felt like growling myself as she began to give him little licks with her pink tongue. I felt even worse when Edward just laughed. He fluffed up the fur around her face and neck and gave her a kiss on her nose. Raine sneezed then and both the boys laughed. She rubbed her head under Edward's neck several times before going back to Jacob.

"She sure is a sweet pea," Edward smiled. "I can't believe anybody would give her such a bad time."

"I know it," Jacob sighed. "Some packs don't even try to recognize others as friendly. They like to be aggressive. We don't really understand it, ourselves. But, she's with us now. She won't be hurt anymore. Huh, Rainey? Jacob will protect you."

She nuzzled him.

"Well, come on Bellz! She won't bite," Jacob smiled, giving her a good back rub.

No, but I might bite her if she gets too cute with Edward again, I thought.

I went to her. Raine came away from Jacob. She made several circles around me, sniffing at me. I wasn't sure what she was looking for. Finally, she pawed at me to sit. I did. She began doing to me what she had done to Edward.

It was hard to stay angry with her. She was pretty sweet, after all. Raine was just desperate to be loved. I ran my hands through her silky fur. She was like a very large, very warm stuffed animal. After awhile, she stood and began pulling at my jacket's sleeve.

"What's she doing?" I asked.

"I think she wants to take you inside. She's very proud of a little collection she's started."

Edward helped me up and we all made our way into the little red house. Once inside, Raine took off. She returned shortly with a large, plastic tub. It was full of stuffed animals. She pawed at Edward and I to look.

We sat across from her and she took a rabbit out. She balanced it on her nose very carefully then dropped it into Edward's lap. She grabbed a pink duckling next and gave it to me. I told her that it was very nice, but I had obviously missed something. Raine took it back and shook it around making something inside rattle. She gave it back to me and waited until I shook it too. She woofed happily, her tail wagging furiously. This continued until everything had been taken out of the bin. We had to laugh. She was just so excited about all of them.

Jacob offered me a soda. We went into the kitchen to get it, and a juice for Raine We came back to find that she had crawled into big tub and was fast asleep. Jacob put a blanket over her and we went to sit on the couch.

"You're very lucky Jacob. Raine is such a sweetheart," Edward said.

"Yeah,"he agreed. "Thankfully you caught her on a good day. Normally, she would've gone to hide in my bed. If it were really bad, she would've cried until you left."

"She doesn't seem to be such a baby, either," I added. "Childish, yeah, but not really a baby."

"That's something else you don't want to see." He sighed deeply. "So, what brought you out here? I mean, I know you wanted to see her, but was that it?"

"No," I admitted. "Jake... this is the last time you'll see me as a human. My birthday is creeping up on me real fast and I don't want to turn twenty. Plus, the Volturi are going to start wondering about me. If they check in on us and I'm not a vampire you won't be seeing me anymore at all."

He was quiet for a long time. "I know. But... we can still hang out, can't we? You won't, you know... you won't hate me?"

"No! Jake, I could never hate you! No matter how much you might stink."

He smiled a little then. "I can't promise what the boys will do though. The treaty will be over. I'll do the best I can and so will Seth, but that's only two of us."

"You can come to us, then," Edward suggested.

"Maybe. I'd probably get kicked out of the pack though."

"You're the alpha! They can't do that," I said.

"I gave that up, so technically, yes, they can. I wish you wouldn't do this Bella – but I understand now. You have to and I know that. I'd rather have an undead best friend then a dead one."

"Don't worry, we'll think of something," I said, hugging him.

"You won't forget me?"

"There's that, too,"Edward said."If something were to go horribly wrong, she could forget all of us. She could have no idea that we were even married, or that she ever said two words to me."

"But that won't happen," I reminded, not liking where this was going. "You two sound like doctors, only talking about what could happen and the horror stories. There's a much bigger success rate."

"You still have to think realistically. If I hadn't had a picture of her, I would not remember my own mother, Bella."

"You were really sick. You were traumatized. I won't be, I'll be fine. I'll remember my own Edward," I smiled. "And my Jacob."

We stayed for a few hours longer until Raine began waking up. I gave Jacob a big hug, promising again that nothing would change. I could make the promise, of course, but I was unsure now that I could keep it.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Once Bitten

I had asked Edward for one last time I bed before I changed. He happily obliged. Jasper was psyching himself up to deal with another newborn. The others were armoring their bedrooms. I thought it seemed a bit drastic. Even though I'd be a newborn, I would still be me. They didn't need to sit on me. Carlisle and Esme had taken it upon themselves to put away anything irreplaceable. Alice was hiding her good clothes.

Rosalie was still upset that I wouldn't be having a baby. Edward couldn't have given me one anyway, so my humanity didn't matter in that argument. She still thought that a test tube baby. Couples who couldn't have children were forcing the sperm and egg together and giving it an electric shock to grow. They would put it back inside the mother to grow and she would give birth normally.

I had never pictured having children with Edward. We were so happy together alone and I had never thought of us being interrupted. Especially not by a little me. I knew that I wasn't patient enough. I was selfish enough to not want to share Edward with anything that may come out of his nether regions.

I had the sneaking suspicion that Rosalie hoped that I could be a surrogate mother for she and Emmett. To be honest, I may not have minded that. If Edward and I had met at a younger age and been married, I wouldn't have minded carrying their baby at eighteen. I wouldn't be keeping it, after all. It would be theirs. Yet my birthday was too soon and there were millions of women able to bear children.

The Cullens had bought an amazing sized shed. It was the size of a small house. They had furnished it nicely. This was to be my living space. I didn't mind it though. It was bigger then my bedroom had been with Charlie. It was an extremely sturdy wood. To me, it felt more like a sauna then a shed. I had always wanted my own playhouse, so this was like a delayed childhood fantasy for me. I loved it.

It was an entire week of final preparations. Edward loved heavily on me. I could see the fear in his eyes that he may loose me. I was determined that it wouldn't happen. It would be like a shot, I kept telling myself. Or like being extremely sick. It would be miserable at the time, but it would pass in a few days and I'd be more wonderful then I ever had been.

The day finally came that Edward would bite me. It was on a Friday and Carlisle had taken two weeks off, saying he was going on vacation. Apparently, everybody was needed to watch me. Jasper had been nervously rubbing his already scarred arms. I was determined not to add to them.

Edward laid me down in my new bed in my new tiny house. All of the Cullens gathered close. Everybody had given me a kiss, telling me how much they loved me. Especially Edward.

"Please, Bella. Don't forget," he whispered to me.

A small drop of his venom leaked out of his eye and ran down his cheek. I held his hand tight as he bent forward plunged his teeth into the very top of my left breast. The closer to the heart, the better. His kiss was the last thing I felt before everything went black and a white hot fire began inside me.

For two days, I was in pain. I couldn't get comfortable in any position. I struggled to breath. Carlisle kept trying to sedate me, but nothing would work. Finally my heart stopped beating and I completely relaxed into my first, and last, sleep as a vampire. At least, that's what Edward told me. I didn't remember any of it.

Apparently I had been out for days. I felt very stiff. I blinked around trying to get my bearings. It felt as though I'd been in a deep coma for months. I realized I wasn't in my house. Nor was I in the Cullen's mansion.

"Bella...?" A timid voice asked.

I looked up to see Edward. I had never seen him in such detail before. It was like going from a black and white television to a gigantic 3-D plasma screen. I could see every slight wrinkle in his shirt as he took a breath. Every change of his pupils. Every hair that might stand on end. I stared at him in amazement for a very long time.

Too long apparently, because he asked, "Bella, darling, do you know where you are?"

I shook myself out of it. "Yeah, I think so. I was in a shed-type thing in your backyard, right?"

"Yes,"he laughed happily. "And you know who I am?"

"Sure, you're Jasper, right?"

His face fell so terribly that it broke my heart.

"Hey, hey, I was kidding! I know you're my Edward! Don't be sad," I said quickly.

I jumped up to hug him and we both ended up on the floor. I had to remember that I was stronger then he was right now. He didn't seem to care.

"Oh Bella," he breathed. He kissed me deeply. "Don't you ever scare me that badly again. Ever - you rotten, little stinker!"

He tickled me and kissed me. We snuggled on the floor for a long time before I noticed we were being watched.

"Alice!" I greeted happily, getting up to hug her.

As I drew closer I stopped. I was completely stunned. It wasn't Alice I had seen, it was my own reflection. I was perfect. Now I was the one who looked as if I had been in magazines.

"What do you think, Edward?" I gasped. "Am I beautiful now?"

"Bella, you've always been beautiful. You know that that has never mattered to me."

"I know, but do I look like I belong in your family? Am I Cullen beautiful?"

He smirked a little. Then he stood and held me close. I knew that he didn't look at things that way, but he knew that I did.

"Yes," he replied, more or less just to humor me. "Now you look like us. All except for your eyes, but that will take a while to change."

I went to look back into the mirror again. Sure enough, my eyes were the red I had seen when I was in Volterra. The eyes of a human blood drinker.

"I would imagine you're hungry?" Edward asked.

"Now that you mention it, I really could use... something," I said.

He went to a small fridge that I hadn't noticed before. I decided that they must have moved it in during my transformation. Only, when Edward took me to it, it was quite warm on the inside. He removed a large water bottle from it, though it was filled with blood.

"I am determined that you never taste human blood," he said. "These were all collected from different animals. You can fill yourself with these. It will make teaching you to hunt much easier."

I wasn't sure that I wanted it at first, but the second the cap was off, it was an entirely different story. It was gone in less the a minute, and five more followed it. Edward patiently sat out of my way. I went to sit next to him after I felt I was about to burst.

It didn't take long for the others to come and investigate. All of them were thrilled to see that I had made it. Through all the hugs, I could feel how strong I was. It was almost more embarrassing then being too weak.

Over the next few days, Edward taught me to hunt. Unfortunately for me, I was still a bit clumsy but at least there was no way to spill a deer. I had never noticed how many smells there were in the forest. The worst of which were animals droppings, though it made them easier to track. As I improved, we went to higher elevations. I got to sample Edward's favorite meal, the mountain lion. He was right – they were delicious.

I was glad that I wasn't nearly as reckless as they thought I'd be. Jasper didn't understand at all. He followed me around and kept asking so many questions. I almost thought he'd put me in a large test tube and start conducting experiments. Then again, I hadn't been around humans. I had caught the scent of one but it had completely repulsed me. All of them wanted to test this further, but knew it was too dangerous.

Jacob had come to see me when Raine was asleep. I had never realized how much he really did smell like a dog. A wet dog too, since it had been raining. But he was still Jacob. I didn't have any urge to attack him and didn't automatically hate him. We would still be best friends, just like I'd promised.

The biggest adventure was discovering my hidden talent. Edward had found that he began having trouble reading the thoughts of somebody touching me. I hadn't known it was happening at all. He asked Alice to touch me and for me to try to block him out. To his great surprise it worked. To my surprise, I found that I could read Alice.

The way I could read people was like scrolling through a very long document on the computer. Sometimes it was like fast forwarding a movie. I could see everything and pick through what I found interesting. Even though Edward couldn't see it, all Alice and I saw was the day she had met Jasper. She told me it was as if she had actually been there again and was almost sad when Edward told me to stop the illusion.

They realized how much power was in this. They wondered if I could project bad thoughts as clearly as good ones. That was something I didn't care to know. Emmett wanted to be the test subject. I realized that no matter how much I didn't want to find out, it was something I had to know. So as the Cullens gathered around, I did it.

I put Emmett in my bubble. There didn't seem to be any one thing that truly scared him, but several smaller things. I started with Rosalie. It seemed that Royce had come back and was after her again. He was a carnivorous vampire and extremely powerful. He caught her by the throat and demanded that they continue what they had once had. Where was Emmett? He was watching from under a large amount of fur. He could see Rosalie's tortured face as Royce began his assault on her, but her screams were drowned out by a deafening roar. From Emmett's view, I looked up to see an impossibly huge bear bearing it's yellowed fangs. It reared up, the claws coming back down on his face. He tried to turn away, but it still took out the side of his face. He could see Rosalie in tattered clothes with Royce on top of her and his sharp teeth deep in her neck. He was helpless to do anything.

"Stop it,"came a scream from the distance.

I shook the nightmare out of my head just in time to see Rosalie in real time rush at me. I flew back, crashing into the front doors. Emmett was on his knees on the floor, breathing hard.

"What were you doing to him? You've hurt him!" Rosalie cried, coming at me again.

Edward got in front of me, growling. Emmett caught her.

"No, Rose," he said. He sounded tired. "I'm alright. I asked her to do it. We had no idea what would happen. Don't blame Bella."

"What happened?" Carlisle asked.

"I saw everything I was afraid of as if it were really there. It was a living nightmare."

We were all shocked. I felt terrible that I had frightened Emmett so badly, even if it hadn't been real. I crawled back to my shed to let everything cool down again.

There was another matter we had all been avoiding, but with the arrival of the mail, we realized we couldn't put it off any longer. Carlisle handed the letter to Edward. I looked at the envelope and saw that it was from Italy. Edward growled, crumpling the letter up and tossing it away.

"It's the Volturi,"he told me. "We have a week to come to Volterra or they'll come to us and they will not be happy at all."

"Nothing like being forced to go on vacation," I grumbled.

I couldn't help but hope it would be a better visit this time. After all, nobody was in trouble. Edward and I were both happy. And I was a vampire.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Volterra

This plane ride was even longer then the one to Brasil had been. It gave me more time to enjoy first class. They kept trying to offer me food and just couldn't understand why I didn't want it. I knew they thought I was just some weird gothic kid who enjoyed wearing red eye contacts. Hardly. Another thing I had found about myself was that I could sleep. This came in handy.

We finally landed in Rome. Edward and I still had a few days, so we decided to stay and enjoy the history. We had passed by a newspaper stand to which I had to laugh. Almost a year since it had been missing, a man had finally found his stolen yellow Porsche. The culprit had never been found and I knew she never would be. Nobody would ever think to look in Forks.

After seeing sites that I had only viewed in my history books, we traveled on to Volterra. It had seemed so huge when I had first visited. There weren't even half the people in the streets as there had been that day. I realized that Volterra was actually quite small. It was just a village. I didn't have to fight my way to the clock tower this time either and I wasn't about to run through the fountain again. I was able to look around now.

The houses were all on a cliff side and made of stone. They seemed to be strung together to make the most of the space. There were many little shops outside, even though it looked like rain. Some people even had goats or other small farm animals. They looked tasty, but Edward told me that it would be like eating somebody's dog or cat. People also used goats to sell their own milk or cheese. Sheep gave them wool for clothes and chickens laid eggs. I was a bit sad since the meals were so easy, but I also wasn't about to eat someone's pet or ruin their career. There was more open space a bit north of Volterra that we could hunt in.

Edward knew the way in to the castle. It sort of came back to me as we made our way through the maze of hallways. I remembered certain things more then others. We came to the end that appeared to cut off, though I knew it must have been a door.

"Are we supposed to knock or did they hide a doorbell somewhere?" I asked.

"No," Edward laughed. "They know we're here. We just have to wait for -" At that moment the door opened.

"Heidi," he finished.

"Hello," she smiled, her violet eyes shining. "I hope that the two of you had a wonderful trip. We've been expecting you. They tried to keep this week cleared up, and thankfully today is completely free. Come in, then. Oh, and Bella, you look lovely, dear."

"Thanks," I said. I hated it when people I hardly knew called me dear.

We began down another maze of halls and up several floors. I wondered how the Volturi got around their own home. Even for vampires, they were ancient. I could see why they didn't bother to go out much.

As we made our way down the final stretch, we were met by new escorts. I resented one and was indifferent to the other. Jane and Alec.

"Well, well, if it isn't the human lover and the newborn," Jane said. "I had hoped you wouldn't do it, Edward. She would have made a wonderful snack."

I wished I could smack her upside the head, but I'd seen what her powers could do. Alec was just staring at me. I guessed that he thought I was very pretty. I felt sorry for him. The poor kid really needed to get out more to see more women.

"You'll have to excuse her," he said. "We had a bet going, you see, and she's just lost. I knew Edward would never be that foolish."

"At least we have one fan here," I said.

They took us into the throne room. I still hated it in there, for no other reason then it was also the feeding room. So many innocent lives had been lost in it.

Aro and Caius were talking to each other, seeming to be in very good moods. Marcus still sat silently, gazing off into space. We went to stand a few feet in front of the steps that led up to their thrones. Jane and Alec were a little way behind us.

"You were wrong about one thing though," I heard Jane whisper to Alec. "She's still quite ugly."

I heard Alec shift a bit.

"Ouch!" Jane cried. "That was my foot!"

Aro cleared his throat like an annoyed parent. "Alec, do not stand on your sister. Jane, stop insulting our guests."

"Yes, sir," they both mumbled.

"Ah, Bella, what a lovely vampire you have made. It would have been the biggest waste I would have had to endure if Edward had tried to get out of it. Not that I could ever doubt Alice," he smiled, coming to stand in front of us.

"Thanks," I said. He was being too friendly. I didn't like it.

"Tell me, how has it been for you? Being a vampire, I mean."

"Pretty good, I guess. I like it and I haven't been as crazy as everyone said I'd be."

"Really now? Can you explain that?"

I looked at Edward, since I wasn't sure how much I should say. He just shrugged. I supposed that was true. What did it matter that Aro knew how I'd been doing?

"Jasper used to work with newborns and he's really surprised by me. I'm nothing like they were. When I first got up, I actually felt a bit tired, not like I had a lot of strength and energy. I was able to talk to Edward for awhile and I wasn't hungry until he mentioned it.

"While Edward was teaching me their hunting skills, we came across a hiker. He was training for a cross country run, but he'd gotten himself a little lost. I was the first to get close to him, but Edward decided to sit on me. He shoved me back and made me sit on a log, then went back to help the guy. When he came back, I was actually feeling kind of sick. The smell of the man's blood was so harsh and bitter – and so strong. I couldn't stand it. The thought of it being in my mouth made me want to throw up."

"Then you are naturally repulsed by human blood? You have never been drawn to it?"

"Not so far, no," I replied.

"How very remarkable! Continue, please, this is most interesting,"Aro encouraged.

"The only other interesting thing really would be my extra talent," I went on, determined not to call it a 'power'. For some reason or other I hated that term being used toward myself. "I'm not sure what to call it, exactly. I can turn people's thoughts into reality. The good ones and the bad. I have to put them into a bubble of sorts first though. It blocks everything out but their thoughts. I can go through and pick which ones I want to show them. I can also keep people out of their thoughts by doing the same thing."

"Is it asking too much of you to show me a demonstration?"

"No," I said warily. I hoped he wouldn't tell me to use Edward as the guinea pig.

"I would like to see all sides of it. Edward, touch her, please."

"Wait, what are you asking me to do to him?" I asked quickly.

"Nothing, my dear. I want to see if I can still read him as you are holding on to him."

That was alright, then. I held onto Edward's arm, putting him into my little bubble. He smiled at me. My eyes grew wide. If Aro was successful, he was about to get a head full of extremely dirty thoughts. Luckily after a few moments of putting his hand on Edward's shoulder, Aro stepped back.

"Once again, I can see nothing,"he said. "I would also like to see the power of your nightmare weaving. I would imagine that the blissful thoughts would only paralyze a bit. Jane, I do believe that you are the most resilient of us. Would you lay a hand on Bella?"

I turned a bit, to see Jane frown.

"I – I do not mean to argue master, but she is immune to my own power. I hardly think that this is fair."

Aro laughed. Clearly, Jane was his favorite."Pouting is highly unattractive, young one. I suppose, though, that you do have a valid point. Caius, then?"

"If I must," he sighed, sounding bored. "Come here."

"No, no, no, Caius, you must be down here with the rest of us."

Caius groaned, but got up anyway.

"Come now, you are not _that_ old,"Aro smirked.

"Only a few millenia more then I should be,"he griped.

"This, coming from the same man who I witnessed only yesterday leap over that garden wall for a stray human. Tis but an act, sir," Aro laughed.

"I nearly broke myself in doing that, too,"Caius said, smiling himself. He came to stand in front of me."Welcome, Bella. You will have to pardon the bickering of a few old goats. You cannot possibly imagine the boredom we would suffer if we had nothing to bother about."

"I'm sure I'll get it after a few centuries," I replied.

"Now, if you will put a hand on her, please," Aro said.

Chicken, I thought. You'll volunteer anybody but yourself.

Caius held his hand out and I took it. It was easy to find what worried him most.

The castle had erupted in flames. The Volterran villagers stood outside cheering. They'd finally rid the town of vampires. Thousands of years of history was being lost in the smoke.

Behind the castle stood Caius. He knew, somehow, that the Volturi guard were a total loss. Marcus had not emerged either. Aro stood several yards away with a woman that I didn't recognize. It made Caius even more anxious. Finally, a figure emerged. Another woman. She stumbled toward him, completely engulfed in flame.

"Your fault," she rasped. "This is your fault, Caius. I told you that leading this life would bring us to ruin. Now I shall join Didyme and you will have nothing."

She wheezed and crumpled at his feet.

"Athenadora, no!" He cried."No, you must stay with me! Please, I would do anything!"

"Why, Caius? Why have you done this to me?"

Her frail skin began turning to ash. Then I felt somebody shaking me.

I looked around me. Caius looked haunted. Aro was delighted. Edward had his hand on me.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly.

"No, not at all," Aro smiled. "That certainly is quite powerful. Might I ask what you saw?"

"Your castle was on fire. The villagers did it. Then there was woman who was burning and she told Caius it was his fault. Her was... Athens, something."

Caius laughed. He had obivously come out of it."Athenadora. She is my wife. The other woman you saw is Aro's wife, Supicia."

"You're married?" I gasped.

"Of course, dear," Aro chuckled. "You do not really think we could live thousands of years and not find somebody, now do you?"

"No, I suppose not," I said. It was still weird, though. It also put a bunch of thoughts in my head that I wished weren't there.

"Bella, there is something that we would like to offer you," Aro said, getting back to business. "It is not that I think the Cullens are not capable of handling your growth. Quite the contrary, I think that they would do very well to bring you up in a more modern way, which you obviously need. However, I would like to offer you the opportunity to start out here, with us. We are even more ancient then your Dr. Cullen. We could give you all the knowledge of our history, as well as how to harness your power. I have never seen any like it before, and it is not something that should go to waste."

"What? But – but my home is in Forks. I can't just leave!"

"No, no, I would not ask you to leave permanently. Only a few months. Vampires learn exceptionally fast, after all."

"We'll talk about that,"Edward said.

"Yes, I figured as much,"Aro replied. "You are welcome to stay with her, Edward – just to make certain that we do not send her back in a bag."

Edward and I stayed in a local inn that night. We had a long discussion. Edward wasn't in favor of staying at all, but I wasn't so sure.

"I think we should stay," I told him. "Aro has a point, they could teach me better then anybody else could. He's curious. They just want to help."

"Bella, the Volturi never 'just want to help'. There has to be something in it for them. He'll try to get you to stay much longer."

"Then I'll say no. Come on, Edward, it's just a couple months. It'll be fun!"

"And their diet?"

"I can leave when they eat. Even you said the Volturi aren't bad. They're like Charlie. They're the police, it's their job to be strict."

"Not exactly," he sighed. "You are right, though, they aren't truly evil, but they are extremely selfish. I have a very good feeling that they're trying to use you, but Aro has gotten very good at shutting me out of his head."

"Please, Edward? I'm not stupid, I'll know when they're up to something."

"I never said you were, love." Then he sighed. "Alright. But I don't like it. This is too suspicious, though I can't prove it one way or the other. If you think it would be best for you, then we will stay. Just promise me that we will leave if I find something to prove that I'm right."

"I promise," I said. "Thank you, Edward. It'll be interesting! We don't have to stay in the castle all day. Like I said, we can have fun."

"I hope you're right, Bella," he said. "For your sake, I really hope you're right."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Uninvited Guests

In the week that followed, I learned more about where the Volturi had come from. Not only were they the oldest vampires on earth, they were some of the first. Aro had grown up pretty poor, and people loved to step on his family. His best friends, who had been in similar situations, were Marcus and Caius. Aro had always wanted to be a king. He was always plotting some sort of rebellion or another that would get him in a position of power.

A roaming vampire had admired Aro's spunk. There hadn't been many vampires then, and there certainly were no solid leaders. The vampire had bitten Aro, and shortly after had wasted away into nothing. He had been too old and too weak for much else. Shortly after discovering what he was, Aro found he had extra power. He then changed Marcus and Caius, hoping they would have something similar. They had nothing like his, which delighted him even more. He realized that together they would be even more powerful. They began gathering a guard and in no time, were able to gain control.

Through this, I learned something that I could have easily guessed. More then being interested in teaching me their history, Aro liked to brag about himself. There wasn't much I could do for it but smile and nod politely. I had also learned that Aro had had a sister who met a tragic end. It seemed a bit fishy to me, but there wasn't any way that I was about to say so. Not to him.

I had asked Edward about it instead. He looked very sad when he told me that Carlisle would mention Didyme every so often. She was Aro's sister had been his opposite. She was caring and did what she could to help others, even when she had nothing much to give. She was very kind, in fact, her power had been the ability to make others feel happiness. Aro was unimpressed but thought he could at least use her for something. But Didyme had disappeared, and he kept changing the story as to how it had happened. Carlisle seemed to be the only one who really noticed that fact, and suspected foul play. I would need to make a mental note to that out of my mind around Aro, just in case I was touched.

Edward didn't want to be in the castle during the day. Unfortunately, I found that that was when I needed him most. During one of my down times was when I made an unexpected friend.

I had been lounging in across the large, plush bed in the room Edward and I had been given. It was far away from the rest of the Volturi's rooms, which I think we were all glad for. I was moping. Edward wouldn't come in and there wasn't anything for me to do. I heard a knock and was hopeful that Edward had stopped being stubborn. I was surprised to see Alec come in.

"Hello Miss Bella,"he said. "Do you mind if I come in?"

It wasn't Edward, but at least it was somebody. "No, that's fine. What's up?"

"Nothing at all. Today has been very dull for us. Jane has been saying that Edward will not come inside, and I thought that you must be even more bored that I was."

"You're right,"I sighed. "I'm surprised to see you up here. I didn't think you were allowed to see me."

Alec laughed. "But of course I can! Jane is the only one who would not allow it and I never listen to her. I am very sorry that she isn't being a decent hostess. She is very bitter for some reason."

"Her too, huh? That's the same reason Edward is outside."

"It seems a bit funny though, doesn't it? They have only seen each other but a few times. Sometimes I think that she may have had feelings for him. Edward was always disinterested in females until you came along. It would explain why she never liked him – and why she likes you even less."

"Really? You think she liked him?"

"I think that it may be possible. I cannot think of another explanation for why she dislikes him so. She's fine with the rest of your family. But that is only what I think. She would never tell me – not unless Edward died."

I couldn't exactly blame her. There were things that I would never tell people unless they, or I, were on a deathbed.

"How did you and Edward end up together?" He asked. "It seems odd that after not wanting anybody, he would be willing to kill himself for a human. No offense..."

I told him our story. Aro had known, of course, and gotten the story right out of Edward's head. I couldn't remember ever telling anybody what had happened – not the truth, in any case.

"It was that easy?" he asked when I had finished.

"Yes," I laughed. "Except those few months when he'd left. It's not extremely hard if you really love the other person."

Alec seemed to be deep in thought then.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No. No I just – I'm - never mind. I am alright." There was a rather odd noise then. "That would be our alarm. If you'll excuse me, I need to tend to some uninvited guests."

Alec went off and in a couple of minutes, I could smell who it was. It was both horrible and wonderful. I took off down the hall.

"Jacob!" I cried, running to hug him. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't really think you could go on vacation without me did you?" He grinned.

I felt a cold nose on my hand then. Raine was hiding behind him.

"Wow, she actually came?"

"It took a bit, but yeah. She enjoyed the plane – I think that's the longest she's stayed a human."

"What is that awful smell?" Jane gasped, coming up behind us.

"Guilty,"Jacob said."That comes with being a wolf."

"I'm sure,"Jane replied.

"Jane, do not be rude to them. They are Bella's friends,"Alec said.

She shrugged and led us into the throne room. I could have done it myself, but I knew she got a kick out of being the royal escourt.

Aro was waiting for us. "More protection for our newborn, eh?" He laughed. "Yes, I remember your helping hands from last year. Or perhaps helping paws?"

"Both,"Jacob said.

He shook hands with Aro, and I could tell he wasn't quite sure what to think of him. I was sure that the only reason Aro hadn't gone after them was because he thought they might be a helpful contact. Suddenly, behind Jacob, Raine whined loudly.

"My goodness, what seems to be your problem?" Aro asked.

"This is Raine, my imprint. She's got a bit of a nervous disorder," Jacob explained.

"Would she let me look into her head?"

"I'm not sure. I guess you can try."

Aro was able to coax her out and held her paw for a minute. "Ah yes, you have had quite a rough time, haven't you, young one? But it seems you have a wonderful young man to stand by you now. You will be safe while you are here, too. Alec has always wanted a dog so I'm sure you can keep him quite company."

He talked with Jacob for quite sometime, finding how the pack worked. Raine seemed to be troubled though. Finally, she pawed at Aro's leg.

"Yes?"

Raine poked her nose over towards Marcus. She made a sad noise.

"That is my own friend, Marcus, darling," he told her.

She put her paw on him again.

"Oh, you would like to know why he is upset? Now, that is quite a sad story. A very long time ago, he had a wife named Didyme. She was also my sister. She died during a small problem we were having with other vampires here. Marcus has been very upset and very quiet since then."

Raine's ears went down. She seemed to be thinking. Then she did something that none of us expected. She got up and made her way to his throne.

Marcus looked at her briefly, then back off into space, disinterested. Raine wouldn't have that. She nosed and licked at his hand. When he didn't respond, she woofed at him softly. She put her front paws up onto his lap, wagging her tail hopefully. Again, there was no response. So, deciding there was nothing else for it, Raine hopped onto his lap, flipping herself onto her back. Then she tugged his sleeve until his hand rested on her stomach.

He looked at her for a long time. His face was blank. Nobody knew what to think or what to do for her. Then, for the first time in centuries, Marcus smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Friends

Edward decided to at least stay in the castle now. Raine liked to be around Marcus, so Jacob stayed inside with her. He didn't want to be around the Volturi because they 'gave him the creeps', but he also didn't want to leave Raine.

She didn't particularly seem to like Aro or Caius. She was wary of them. But she would stay in the throne room to play with Marcus. They had started a game. He would take off his long cloak, or a large blanket and put it over her. Then he would put his feet on it, holding the edges down, and she would go crazy trying to wiggle out from under it. Several times I had seen her wearing the cloak. It was absolutely huge on her. Raine liked to run down the hall with it on, liking how it fanned out. I thought that if she jumped off the stairs with it on, she could probably take flight.

Alec kept coming to my room during the day. He was such a nice kid, it was sad to see that he'd fallen into this life. He'd told me about that day. Apparently, Aro had been watching the twins for a while. They knew who he was, though they didn't have any idea what he was. It was during the early 1700's, and the witch hunts started getting bad in Italy. Anything abnormal became subject to accusation of witchcraft. Twins were definitely abnormal then. Jane had been unfortunate enough to have the hobby of making dolls. The villagers picked them out and decided to burn them at the stake. Aro was able to save them but due to the circumstances, was forced to change them right away.

It was extremely interesting. I liked hearing his stories of how things had been back then. Alec was actually very funny. We had started going into he and Jane's room so he could show me all the old things he was talking about. The Volturi had even more artifacts then the Cullens. It was hard to imagine that the things I owned would be ancient some day.

Raine had decided to follow me into their room once. She curled up on his bed. When he came in, she was very worried. Luckily he didn't mind. She cuddled up to him after awhile. Raine curled into a ball and let him use her as a pillow. She licked his head, making him laugh. Raine began to fall asleep as he and I talked. Then Jane came in.

"Why is there a dog in our room?" She gasped. "It smells!"

"Stop it, Jane,"he said."Raine is really sweet. I like her. She's on my side and she's allowed to be in here."

"The smell will still be on my side, though. Still, I suppose she can stay as long as she is house trained."

"Please be kind to her,"Alec said."She isn't quite well. We used to want a dog so badly Jane, do you remember that?"

"I do," she smiled. A real smile, that I'd never seen on her before. "I also remember trying to sneak them in and getting a very bad spank for it."

The two of them laughed. It was so odd. I'd never seen them this way. They were so normal. Old and still a bit frightening, but normal.

"Did you ever own a pet?" Alec asked me.

"No," I replied. "I was never real great with animals, unless you count Jacob or Raine."

"You really were not a normal human were you?" Jane mused.

I thought about that. "I guess not."

"Did you ever have another boyfriend?"

"No. When I was younger I never wanted one, and when I moved to Forks the other guys who wanted me were... well, they just weren't for me."

"Really? Even Edward did not miss out on that."

I had started to get bored, but now I was alert. I thought he and I had been over that. According to him, he'd never dated. This was news to me!

"He did?"

"Oh yes. Did you not ask him?"

"He told me no."

"I can see why," Alec said. "He was never quite as interested in them as they were in him. Plus, it was always brief. He probably thought it wouldn't count."

"Still, that is no reason why he could not have told her that. Perhaps he felt bad that you had never dated and did not want to admit it. I bet he thought it would make you feel bad,"Jane said.

"I feel worse finding this out later."

"Men rationalize things in a weird way,"she shrugged. "Unfortunately, I have to be surrounded by them. I would know."

Alec prodded her and they laughed. I wasn't in a laughing mood anymore. I glanced over at Raine. She had fallen asleep, which was just as well. She wouldn't understand the conversation anyway. I wasn't quite sure what to do. Should I ask him about it? If he said no again, should I tell him what Jane told me? I'd never been one to cause or even be around drama. That would certainly start some. I didn't want to call him a liar and I knew he'd take it that way. On the other hand, not saying something would make my head explode, wondering about it. It also might slip out at the wrong time and cause more problems.

"When was the last time he had a girlfriend?" I knew vampires had a keen memory, but if it was more then fifty years ago, I could pass it off as him forgetting.

"Well..." Alec started, but Jane whacked him. "What? She should know!"

"Then let her ask him. We have said too much already. I can take him, but I still do not want him coming after us."

"Tell me," I demanded. "I won't let him do anything to you. I'd rather know."

"Bella... Edward did a lot of things you may not be happy about to be with you. In all technicality, he went on 'dates' when you were together. There are humans, a very select few, who know what we are and donate their blood to us. We never bite them. They enjoy pain and do certain things to get their blood out and into cups, bottles, bags, whatever. Normally, it does not cost much. They usually just want to be seen with us. Not that other humans understand, but these people tend to look wealthy and always have an abnormally beautiful mate around. They call it a date, but there's always something behind it, obviously. They are like a vampire's whore.

We were shocked when Edward started to visit them. They are people we keep under close observation. We hadn't any idea what he could be doing, since he was adamant about being so in love with you. Then we found out he was trying to get used to human blood by being around a human who would willingly bleed for him. The last time he visited one of them was before you were married,"Alec explained.

"Oh." That was all I could really say. I understood what he was trying to do, but that still didn't excuse him from sneaking around to be with other women. Especially since he'd had to go out with them before they would help him! I wasn't sure whether I was more angry or sad. "Thanks for telling me."

"I would have wanted to know too. I am sorry if you're upset," Alec said.

"No, I'm alright,"I lied.

Raine snored loudly and began kicking all four of her feet. She woofed several times in her sleep. One of her feet booted Alec in the head. We all had to laugh.

"I think I'll take her to bed. She'll be scared if she wakes up and Jacob isn't there."

I bundled her up and lifted her up on my shoulder. I was glad that she wasn't any bigger then a regular wolf. Jacob thanked me when I brought her to his room. She was still dreaming when I left.

When I went back to my room, I was surprised to see Edward standing by my door. His smile faded when he saw my face.

"Bella? What's the matter sweetheart?"

"Nothing."

"Please don't be that way. You know you can tell me anything."

"But apparently, you can't."

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Alec told me about the girls you were seeing. The ones who bleed all over you because they get off on it."

Edward sighed. "Yes. I had meant to tell you once we could be alone out here, but I was beat too it, I suppose."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! Of course! I'm sorry you had to find out that way, but now that you know I can tell you everything. What do you want to know?"

"Alec already told me. I don't want to hear anymore."

"You're going to believe them over me?"

"I have to. I don't think you would've said anything to me otherwise. I don't know how I'm supposed to trust you. You do realize you were cheating on me?"

"How can you say that? I may have gotten them something to eat or driven them around, but it wasn't as if I enjoyed it. I wanted you with me, but I was afraid of what would happen in I had a bad reaction. I knew I would have gone after you instead."

"Then why didn't you just tell me what you were doing?"

"What was I supposed to do tell you? 'Bella, I want to go visit some girls to get used to your blood, but they're all whores in our world'? You would have been too offended!"

"I would have understood what you were doing at least. Or I could have tried to help you find another way! Why didn't you tell me, Edward? Why?"

"Because I was embarrassed. There wasn't another way, I thought of everything before I resorted to that. I knew it would make you angry no matter what and I didn't want to hurt you. It was my last option and I didn't want to tell you it was down to that or nothing. You would have thought I had given up and I didn't want you to see me so weak. I didn't want you to leave me."

"So you thought you'd go ahead and do it and never say anything?"

"Bella, please me believe me, I was going to tell you! Anyway, you think that excuses you from kissing Jacob?"

"What?" I cried. "Edward you know he came on to me!"

"Not the last time. You know, when you went to see if he was feeling better? You were kissing him, but decided you ultimately wanted me. That's the reason he ran away. He thought for one second he had a chance! He had nothing to do with that kiss. _That_ was something I wasn't going to mention, but if you want to make what I did into something it never was, I might just as well put what I've been harboring out there."

Now I was really furious. He had the nerve to talk about making something horrible out of nothing and now this? He knew I would never cheat on him. It may have looked that way, but it wasn't at all what I meant by it! At that moment, Alec and Jane came around the corner.

"No, please, do not fight," Alec begged. "We did not mean to make you so angry Bella. We apologize. We should have thought about it."

"Do not do anything stupid," Jane said. "Go your own ways and talk again later."

I shoved the two into my room. "I think that would be a very good idea." I glared at Edward before going into my room myself and slamming the door.

"What do you want us for?" Alec asked.

"I want you," I said, breathing heavily. "To teach me everything you do as Volturi. I came here for a vacation but I don't think I'll be going home anytime soon. Especially not with _him_."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Training

Jane told Aro all that had gone on earlier that day. She explained that I was now more interested in what the Volturi did, in case I decided to stay permanently. Aro was apologetic to me, but I could tell he was secretly delighted. He told Jane and Alec to go on patrol that night and I was allowed to be with them. Jane seemed slightly insulted, as that was the easiest job left for the new guard, but Alec understood. They couldn't have me hunting down crazed vampires yet.

I began getting ready that evening. Alec had pestered Heidi for some black clothing. I realized that I hadn't worn dark clothing for a long time. It felt odd. Her clothes were slightly big on me, but they would stay on. As it got darker, I made my way toward their room.

I heard a fast pattering as I walked down the hall. I suddenly felt something soft against my hand. Something pulled at my clothes. I turned to see Raine. She obviously wanted me to stop.

"What is it? I can't really stop right now, I've got somewhere to be."

She shook her head and whined. She pointed her paw behind me. She made a small noise that sounded a lot like 'please?'.

I turned to see Jacob running down the hall after me.

"Thanks Raine,"he breathed. "Wow Bells, you sure have gotten faster."

I smiled. "Jake, I'm sorry, I really can't talk right now. I'm supposed to meet Jane and Alec."

"Oh..." he seemed sad. "Can you tell me what happened last night? I don't mean to be nosy, but Edward told me he was leaving and he was really upset."

"He left?"

"Yeah. Not back to Forks, but he's got himself a condo. He said he doesn't want to be around anything here right now. He thought it'd be best if Raine and I stay with him. It seemed to be really important to him that we do – like it was dangerous for us to stay here or something. We're going to, but I'm still not sure why."

I rolled my eyes. "We got into a fight last night. I found out he was cheating on me. It's a long story – he was trying to help me by what he did and I guess I would've understood if he'd told me. Still, I don't believe he was going to say anything to me about what he did. Then he accused me of cheating on him with you!"

Jacob looked guilty. "Well, you kind of did... I know that isn't what you were trying to do, but don't you get how it looks that way?"

It was clear I wasn't going to get anywhere with Jacob either. I just decided to agree.

"You're not really going to join them are you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I still want an apology or something, but I don't know how it'd really help. I'm just trying this for now. We'll see – if I don't like it, I'll consider trying to talk to him."

"Right." He sighed. "Just be careful. They might not be especially bad, but they're not good people either. I don't want you to get yourself into trouble, or get into something you can't get out of."

"I know. They know it too – it's just temporary. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Jacob looked very wary. He rubbed Raine's head and gently pushed her forward. "Ok, if you're sure. Come on Raine, let's get going. I know you don't like the dark, so we've gotta find Edward soon."

They began walking away. When they were at the end of the hall, Raine turned her head to look at me. She shook her head sadly, then turned to keep padding after Jacob.

Volterra looked incredibly different at night. I was surprised that no one seemed to notice us, because the town was small and the streets were completely empty. We didn't see another living thing except for the occasional house pet. I could see why Jane was less then happy about this recent order from Aro. This job was dull in the extreme.

"Does anyone actually try to attack you?" I asked.

"Attack, no. Not for a very long time at least," Alec replied. "Try to break in, yes. Some humans do not think that anyone lives there. If we don't need a snack, we scare them away. Other vampires try to break in just to see if they can. Usually a warning from the guard is enough to make them leave, but some can be determined. That would be when it gets rather interesting. Aro is even less pleasant at two in the morning."

"Usually he does not want to even deal with them. Then we get to have fun. Alec and I have our seniority rights. We get them before anybody else does – not that anyone gets them after we do. There is rarely anything left," Jane said.

She seemed so pleased with herself by this fact. At first, I thought it was creepy. I had never been able to protect anybody though. I was always the one needing protection. If I had been able to defeat a dangerous vampire single-handed, I would be pretty proud of myself too. I wondered what that would be like. It sounded exciting. These two were able to travel the world to keep the order and defend the secrets of vampires. I thought I could really get used to that. It sounded like something I would enjoy.

We wandered Volterra and many of the other surrounding towns. Most of the trouble started there. I found out that very few actually made it into the Volturi's home town. The troublemakers lurked at the borders around it, trying to make last minute plans before going in.

On our sixth round, Alec found something. A lone shoe had been dropped. It looked as if someone had tried to make a quick getaway but had gotten their shoe caught in a fence. They had left it behind in a panic. Jane and Alec quickly tracked the scent. We found the source trying to slink down an alleyway leading into Volterra.

Jane was the first to rush in front. It was a female who appeared to be all alone. Alec closed in behind her. I lagged behind, unsure what to do. I was close enough to see her face. She was practically skin and bones. Her eyes seemed both vacant and wild. Her hair was extremely dirty and completely gone in places. She had a haunted look about her. Her fingernails had grown long and to a fine point. Her clothing was blackened and brown in places and torn.

"What is your business here?"Jane demanded.

The woman backed up and bumped into Alec. She seemed shocked, but she hissed angrily.

"I can tell you are a newborn. Who is your creator?" Alec asked.

She glared from one twin to the other. She began to answer Alec, but I didn't understand the language. Apparently, neither did Jane or Alec. Whatever she was saying was complete gibberish. She continued babbling until Alec spoke again.

"We have another one," he sighed.

"We know what to do then," Jane nodded.

Together, they began herding her. Alec would act as if he would lunge at her. She would step back. Jane would growl, warning her not to pass, and keeping her between them. I followed behind, taking in their strategy carefully. We finally made our way to the side of the castle like this.

"Be careful where you step, Bella," Alec warned me, never taking his eyes off the newborn. "There is a very large and very deep pit behind Jane. Falling in would be the end of you."

Jane prodded the female while she watched Alec. She whipped around, snarling and trying to grab Jane. Her movements seemed slow and clumsy. Jane danced out of the way at the same second that Alec made a jump for the woman. With one swift slash, her head disappeared. Jane was there was right at his side, taking off an arm and tossing it down into the pit. Within seconds, there was nothing left.

"Torch it," Jane called down into the gaping space.

Minutes later, smoke began coming up from the hole. I caught the scent of the newborn burning, though it smelled different from when I was human. This time it was more fleshy and less perfume. I was surprised that I had watched the whole thing. A few months ago, I probably would've gone to hide under the Cullen's coffee table if that were going on outside.

"How did you know you had to, you know, get rid of her so quickly?" I asked. "I thought you all had to decide whether or not to kill someone."

"You are right, that is usually the case," Alec said, dusting himself off. "But that newborn was diseased."

"Vampires can get sick?"

"Not per-say, no," Jane said. "Recently there have been newborns in the area that have contracted something from somewhere. We aren't sure what it is exactly or where they get it. They are almost completely insane. You saw that she was not capable of communicating with us. Right now we have to go with the idea that it is like the canine Parvo disease, though so far we have only seem them in the stage of distemper. Fortunately it seems that it has not gone any farther then that."

"We have the suspicion that it may be something within the creator that is causing it, since we have not heard of it in other areas. Until we find whoever it is, we cannot be sure, so it will just a nuisance for now. Luckily we haven't had to deal with it ourselves, though I guess we will for the time being," Alec said.

This was good news. I felt sorry for them, having to do something they didn't like, but now that I had seen them do it, I was sure that I could. It seemed easy. These newborns weren't too fast or too bright. I could handle a mindless zombie for now. Little did I know I was about to get my chance sooner then I expected.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

First Kill

"Jane! Jane!" A young vampire came tearing down the cobblestone street. She was only older then Jane by a couple of years.

"What is it? And do keep your voice down, please Falin. You are going to wake the humans."

"It's those new vampires – the sick ones. We just found a whole bunch of them!"

Jane growled. "Take us there. Did you grab the one responsible?"

"We...aren't sure,"Falin hesitated. "There's one who seems sicker then the others, but he's competent."

"Right. Come then, you two. We have some parasites to destroy."

Alec and I followed Jane and Falin. This girl seemed to idolize Jane. She wanted to do a very good job in front of her in the very least. Jane soaked it up like a large sponge. I was starting to think Aro had given her his ego through his bite.

It didn't take us long to get down to the beach. I hadn't been down there before. It was nice, but just like other beaches I'd been to. We were too far to see Sicily, but I was sure I would enjoy going over to it someday. We walked for quite sometime down the coast until Falin turned. There was a small space between the cliffs that formed a long, thin cavern. Jane and Alec fit perfectly inside and began maneuvering through it. I had to duck, and slouch sideways in an awkward position. I was very glad my boobs hadn't gotten any bigger then they had after my transformation because I certainly would've gotten stuck. I rather proud of myself for making it all the way through the winding maze of cold, grey stone. At least, I was until the last bit narrowed. I could see the three waiting for me.

Sure enough it was my chest that got stuck first. I tried to force myself through and became wedged even tighter. I sighed. I attempted to turn myself frontward, but my hips got stuck. I saw a small ledge just an inch above me. I thought that if I could get my 'girls' on to that, I could easily slide out. I put my arms under my chest and attempted the feat. I just barely budged. I began bouncing up and down until I finally achieved my goal. What I hadn't realized was that behind me, there was a slight bulge in the rock. I was pinned to cavern exit, my feet hanging just inches from the ground, held up only by my chest.

"So, it's going to be like that, is it?"I asked angrily.

I could hear Jane, Alec and Falin roaring with laughter. I knew my pale skin was turning darker from embarrassment. I slid along the little ledge until I was able to turn. I had to turn backwards to be able to push myself out, but this left my butt sticking out. I pushed with both my hands and feet and popped out of my confines, tumbling to the ground.

"Are we having issues?" Alec laughed.

"Yeah,"I said sheepishly. Then I glared at the cliff,"And same to you, buddy!"

They all laughed.

"What happened, anyway?" Alec asked.

"Apparently I grew a bit up top since I was turned."

"Oh, what a terrible, terrible issue to have," Jane said sarcastically.

We continued on in a hidden clearing for a long time. There was an entire forest behind this mountain. I almost wondered if the newborns had created that small pass themselves, so they wouldn't have to keep going over it the long way. To save what little ego I had left, I decided that was the way I was going when we headed back.

"We're almost there," Falin whispered. "They won't really notice that you're here if you stay quiet. We've been watching them all day. If they do see you, they don't mind much. I got close to one. He grunted at me, then he sniffed at me. He poked me a couple of times then just shuffled off. They aren't really dangerous unless they leave here and find the towns. They're just stupid – though I suppose stupidity is a danger in itself."

"I agree. Though harmless, we just cannot afford to let the disease spread. If it is contained here, it can end here," Jane said.

I felt my heart sink a little. I was willing to kill a crazed murderer – but something sick and defenseless? "Jane, couldn't we just kill the person creating them? We could seal them in here then. They probably aren't bright enough to get out."

"True... but to them, the killing would be a mercy. Whatever it is seems to be eating at their brain. Think how awful it must be to loose that little bit of control every single day. They probably start out confused, then go on to not knowing where they are, then what they are doing, what the simplest things are – and even who they are. It must be absolutely horrible for them."

When she put it that way, it really did sound like it was better to do away with them.

"We'll start with their creator. We have no idea if he has some sort of control over them that we are not able to see."

We crept around the camp. It was fairly small. They seemed to find comfort in staying together, even though they clearly bothered each other. One of them kept prodding another, causing that one to keep scratching at him. Another male was eating a females hair as she pulled it right out of her scalp as if it disgusted her. If she wasn't fast enough, he ate it right off her head. Another woman had chewed her fingernails clean off, but was still biting. One male was busy clawing his way through a tree.

Finally we found an extremely large tent that was not in so much disarray. Falin waved and several other guard appeared.

"Go around the back, in case they try anything," Jane whispered to a few of them. "The rest of you stay here in the front. Alec, Falin, Bella and I will go in. It will not fit any more then that."

Jane entered the tent and we followed. It was a horrible site. What I assumed was a man was seated on a massive bean bag chair. He looked as if he was made of glass. His cheeks were hollow and his red eyes sunken in. His hair was bleach white. He was sickly thin, only a bony frame covered with skin.

"We are the Volturi. What do you mean by creating a race of diseased vampires?" Jane demanded.

The man smiled. A wicked, pointy-toothed, crazed grin."Diseased? Whatever do you mean? They are beautiful creations."

"They are mindless murderers,"she replied. "They are also miserable now. This is wrong, and you know exactly what you have done. What we do not know is why."

"Because the human mind is weak. I was raised in an asylum. I might have been normal, but you see, as I was born there and had no other relatives, that was where I stayed. I have seen the human mind do things that you would never believe it is capable of. I was the only outsider. I was allowed to visit the great land outside the walls. To them, I was a god. In return, they poisoned my mind. They turned a child into a monster, trapped in the insanity of my own mind that never would have occurred otherwise." He giggled then. A shrill, maniacal laugh. "Once I was bitten, I turned monsters into children. The high society who locked us away like we were nothing has become what they feared."

"Pity," Jane sighed. "We may have had a great use for you, had you not chosen this path. A mind so strong in this state of brokenness seems criminal to waste. Still, I have no doubt that you would continue to create others. I have my doubts that you truly understand me this very moment. After all you have been through, I am sorry it has to end this way. We will put you out of your misery."

Jane took one arm, Alec took the other. Falin sat on his feet. He stared blankly into space as if he had forgotten we were there.

"Bella, would you do the honors?"

I was unsure. I still felt sorry for him. I told myself it was cruel to let him live this way for the rest of eternity. I went to stand behind him. I felt both exhilarated and nervous. I heard Jane calling out to the guard outside to start a fire. She looked to me and nodded. I inhaled deeply then plunged my fingers into the flesh. It felt like cracking an egg. I yanked up hard and in the next second, I was holding only his head in my hands.

It wasn't as bad as I expected. I tossed the head out the flap by the hair. Jane, Alec and Falin took apart the limbs and hauled them off to the fire. I looked at my hands. They were red. It wasn't as thick as blood. It was human blood and vampire venom. It minded me of jelly. Rather then faint, as I normally would have, I squished it in my hands. What had I been so concerned about? It was really rather cool. I knew I was ready to take care of the rest of them.

There were eleven of us taking care of the two hundred some vampires. They hardly put up a fight, though I secretly wished that they had. I wanted to try battle techniques. I was having more fun then I'd ever had with the Cullens. I was actually getting to do something as a vampire! My life didn't have to be plain and simple anymore. I could test the limits of my strength. I didn't have to hinder my speed. I didn't have to be so human.

"Bella,"Jane called.

I followed the sound and found Jane and Alec waiting for me. I hadn't realized that the other guard had gone.

"You did so well, Bella. Are you happy?" Jane asked.

"Yes! I didn't think I would be, but... this is amazing. I was never sure exactly what it was that you did. I like I though. I thought you were kind of, you know, evil."

They laughed.

"Anyone who has to bring a harsh authority will always be bad to someone. We really do what is best though, even if it may not always look that way. In any case, we have a gift for you."

Jane and Alec led me to one of the small tents. There was a young girl inside, probably Falin's age. She looked completely haunted. One of the newborns must have taken her as a pet.

"I know you must be getting hungry. How about an appetizer?"Jane asked.

I hadn't even realized how long it had been since I had eaten. Even more so now that I had been active. I could see the girl's rapid pulse in her neck. I stepped toward her.

"No! No, stay away! You're crazy – all of you!"

"That is right young one, and you have seen enough craziness to let you live,"Jane said.

I had my teeth in her neck and her blood gushed into my mouth before she even had time to scream.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Broken

Human blood was much, much better then any animals. It was the difference between juice and champagne. How could any vampire choose to live without it? Why would the person I thought I loved keep me from something so wonderful? After all, the animals suffered just as much, they simply couldn't say so. Besides, the people that the Volturi took in would never be missed. They had made sure of that. The blood made me stronger, and much more capable of helping them.

Casting my nightmares took a lot out of me. That was the next thing I had needed to harness. It was easy to get into people's heads. Society as a whole was incredibly stupid – and apparently not just in America. The majority of minds I came across didn't contain much at all. It was, however, much easier to find things that they were afraid of. I didn't need to look for shreds of intelligence.

It was also easy to put them into my little bubble and terrify them. Most people still had a problem keeping fantasy from reality. I had learned not to believe everything I saw after watching a movie called The Truman Show. It was a lost gem, just like my favorite book. I hardly thought I would ever be able to read Wuthering Heights again. Too much of it reminded me of Edward.

The only difficulty I had with my power was being able to keep it going long enough to paralyze them. Once I had let them out of it, the person cleared their head fairly quickly and ran off. This wasn't what I wanted. According to Aro, I should have been able to keep it going long enough that when I took them out of it, they wouldn't be able to move at all. They would still be seeing it and feeling the effects of the fear. Just as when Jane used her pain illusion – it tricked people's minds into thinking their body hurt even after she had let them go.

There seemed to be an endless supply of rogue vampires for me to try it out on. Some of them were new and hated what they had become. Some had become too obvious to humans. Others were rule breakers. There were many rules punishable by death, mostly because they involved exposing the vampire world. If those people disappeared, it wasn't a problem for them any longer. I realized how lucky I had been that I had been a naturally quiet human. If Edward had fallen in love with Angela, the entire world would have known that vampires existed in a matter of days.

During the next few months, as I became more of a vampire, Jacob was sending me letters to let me know that Raine was becoming more human.

_Hey Bella!_ He had written.

_Raine is getting so big! She's up to my nose. I don't really mind having her at eye level, but now when I tickle her whiskers, she sneezes right in my face. She's not my little lapdog anymore either. She's more like a three or four lap dog! She's gone into her human form twice now, but only in the middle of the __night. It never lasts long, so I enjoy every minute that I can when she's like that. Still, she hasn't quite figured out how to talk. I'm just glad she's doing this well_

_ A lot of it is thank to Edward. I've got that job at the library, you know. It's easy. I don't have to know the titles, the little numbers on the side are all I need to follow. Those haven't changed! Anyway, Edward works with her a lot when I'm gone. It's too bad he doesn't look older. He'd be a great therapist, or maybe a teacher. Raine's counting everything. She knew before, I think, she'd just forgotten. He's started giving her marmellows or candy pieces and says that if she eat however many she's able to count. I told him he'll need to find something else instead of food and candy, or pretty soon we'll have our own breed of pot-bellied wolves._

_ She's started reading too. It's just hard to find books in English here. I bring back simple things from the library and Edward translates them for her. She can read colors, animals, numbers and our names. Even yours. Actually, she thought B-e-l-l-a spelled Raine ha-ha She kept taking your letters and cuddling with them because she thought I was writing to her. That explains the little white hairs you probably find in them. It took us a little bit to correct that, but she gets it now. She wants to write to you too, but wolves don't have thumbs, and she doesn't know how. For now, she'll put a paw print on it... and lick the envelope closed._

_ Talk to you soon!_

_ ~Jake_

****Sometimes, I did write him back. I wasn't always sure how much to tell him. I'd told him I'd tasted human blood – not mentioning that it wasn't just a one time thing, or that it was my own doing. I also couldn't tell him how involved I felt I'd become with them. I loved him, but I wanted to stay in Volterra. There was always email, and I could probably visit Forks whenever I wanted to. I had made plenty of new friends.

I'd recently become more acquainted with Felix and Demetri. They were nice guys, only a bit quiet. They sort of lurked about in the wings, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. I couldn't tell if it was because they liked me or because they'd rather stay away from me. Either way, they both seemed to want to be around Jane.

Jacob's next letter surprised me a bit. I hadn't gotten one for over a month. It made me happy, though I somehow felt more disconnected. Almost as if I didn't care anymore. I knew that wasn't exactly it – I cared, for the most part, but I wasn't interested. I hadn't realized how dull the things that had used to excite were.

_Hey Bellz!_

_ We're all doing great. Raine has gotten so strong. She likes to go out now, but she still won't turn into a human for me. I bought her a very pretty collar and leash to make up for it. She loves it when people come up to see her! __She's not afraid to share her opinions with me anymore. She used to be afraid to tell me no, or say that she didn't care what we did. She'll make up her own mind now though – and she can be pretty stubborn too!_

_ She's also gotten to be quite a stinker. The other day, Edward wanted to go out. He was putting some socks on and she ran right up to him and took it out of his hands. Then she sat on them. He had to wrestle around with her to get them back. Raine's biggest weakness is a tummy tickle, and he's really good at that._

_ Anyway, we're coming to see you at the end of this week. I'm off work for a few days then. We're bored and we miss you. That way you can tell us everything you've been up to!_

_ See you soon,_

_ ~ Jake_

When the end of the week came, I had forgotten that the were coming. We had had a busy week. A newborn army had popped up in Ireland and we'd been dispatched to stomp them out. It was the first time I'd be able to help with that. The last time I'd had to hide out in a tent at the top of a mountain. Looking back on that, I felt pretty pathetic.

Alec came to my room. I had been leaving my door open. Now that Edward wasn't around, I didn't need to worry about people seeing anything awkward...besides myself. I waved at him lazily.

"Bella, we're going to have dinner soon," he said. "We wanted to invite you, since you seem to have changed your diet."

Of course, I was more then happy to join them. I was nervous too. It was the first time I had ever had to eat around Aro, Marcus and Caius. I was afraid of getting in their way. I decided to stay to the corners and pick off what I could. I had to change my clothes before I left, too. This was very casual dining.

I made my way to their throne room. There were the three of them, Jane, Alec, Felix, Demetri, and a couple of others that I didn't yet recognize. I hid behind Felix. He was very much the Emmett of the Volturi, so I wouldn't be seen behind his bulk.

Heidi arrived shortly with a group of humans. I counted just over twenty of them. Some of them were old and obviously not quite in their right mind. Some were young and looked like rebellious young runaways. Jane had been right. They didn't look like people that anyone would notice was gone.

Aro was the first to take one of them. The others followed suit soon after. I grabbed a young boy. He definitely wasn't from Italy. He had curly reddish, copper hair. He was pale and had bright blue eyes. A tiny gold name badge on him said that his name was Drew. I could have cared less what he was called. He looked to much like Edward to keep living.

"I had a girlfriend once,"he said, his voice flat."I told her vampires didn't exist. I told her she was stupid for believing."

"Maybe you should have listened,"I said, grabbing his throat."Women are usually right. She was probably the best thing that would've happened to you. What would she say if she saw you now? A fitting end, probably, you poor, stupid boy."

I took my anger out on his neck. I felt the back of his skull crush under my fingers. Why did they have to scream? It went so fast, they didn't have to take a last stab at dramatics. For one second, I wondered who this girl was that he had mentioned. I wondered if I should send her a picture of him now, just to let her know she was right. Then it would my broken body on the floor though, instead of his.

"It isn't polite to play with your food," Jane whispered to me. "But isn't it so much fun?"

Once all of us were fully satisfied, I waddled out of the room with Jane and Alec. We were laughing and joking about some of the humans. That's when I stopped dead in my tracks. Edward, Jacob an Raine were standing a few yards in front of us. I guiltily wiped my lips. Even if it didn't show there, the bright red of my eyes was a dead give away.

"Oh, Bella," Edward gasped. "What have you done to yourself?"

"I've done what I wanted," I replied. "They let me do what you wouldn't. I'm powerful, Edward. I don't have to be that dependent, weak human who needs constant supervision. I don't have to be a weak vampire either. I can do everything I ever hoped I could."

"But... you are not Bella anymore. My Bella was far from being weak. She was the strongest girl I've ever met. She was funny, kind, caring and had a good heart. She never cared about power – she was content as she was. I loved her more then anybody in the world," Edward said. He was trying to remain composed but his eyes were full of rage and pain. "But I can see that she isn't here."

"No, she is, she's just making _herself_ happy for once in her life, instead of trying to please every other person around," I said coldly. "If that's such a huge change, I suggest you don't come looking for something that isn't there anymore."

For one second, I thought he would hit me, but he turned and started to walk away.

"What are you doing?" Jacob cried. "After all we went through and you're just letting him go? Just like that? Are you crazy?"

"Either he excepts me as I am no matter what, or not at all. It's that simple,"I said.

"Bella, you're a killer! You used to be sensitive to blood you'd faint. Now you're slaughtering humans. That isn't just a change, that's against everything you ever told us. You tried so hard to get me to understand vampires. I finally thought that I did, that maybe it wasn't just a black and white world for you, but you've become exactly what you told me they weren't."

"It isn't slaughter, Jacob. We choose very carefully who gets eaten. We aren't mindless, blood drinkers. It's a matter of survival!"

"We both know that isn't true. You were surviving just perfectly before! There isn't just one option."

Raine woofed in agreement. Even she was glaring at me. For some reason, that made me angrier then anything.

"Quiet you," I said. "You don't even have any idea what we're talking about."

"Oh, that's it," Jacob said. He grabbed my wrist. "You're coming home with us right now."

I pulled out of his grasp. "I am not! I want to stay here. What does everyone have against my happiness?"

Jacob tried to get me again and I smacked him. Raine growled loudly and barked with a viciousness I'd never heard from one of them before. She took a snap at me. The reaction came before I could think. I kicked her hard in the head. She made a loud noise, somewhere between a pained yip and a whine. She stood on her four feet looking dazed, then fell over.

Jacob cried out in a pained sound I had never encountered. He was breathing heavily, grasping at his chest. He howled in agony again, and crawled to Raine. I knew what had happened before he told me.

"You... you killed Raine."

Jacob's voice was soft. Surprisingly monotone. It was as if breaking the imprint has left him void of all emotion. He buried his face into her fur, then after what seemed like hours, he very slowly got to his feet. He lifted Raine's limp body in his arms. He started to shuffle off, then turned back to me.

"Bella, I promised I would never hurt you. I never will. But if you ever come back to La Push, I won't make excuses for what the pack will do. Raine was everyone's baby, not just mine."

Edward put a hand on his shoulder. "Stay away from us, Bella. We welcome vampires, not monsters. Come on, Jacob. Let's get the two of you back to someplace safe. We'll figure out where to go from there."

They went off and I walked back to my room. Jane and Alec were standing at the other end of the hall.

"Bella, why did you do that?" Alec asked, sadly. "Even we never hurt a person without reason. Raine was trying to protect Jacob. She would not have really hurt you. She was just trying to scare you away from harming him."

"I thought we had taught you better then that,"Jane said. "Very bad form."

The two of them walked back to their room. I was completely alone.


	15. Chapter 15

((NOTE FOR READERS: Due to the disappointment over Midnight Sun, I decided to finish from Edward's point of view. I hope I do alright for you!))

Chapter 15

Loss

I had created a monster. I could not deny that anymore. It was exactly what I had always feared. It was far worse then losing her any other way. Knowing that she was alive, but something so evil was painful beyond what I could have believed. I'm sure Jacob would have argued that, if he had been in the state to do so.

As we left the castle, he began struggling under Raine's weight. He seemed to have lost all his strength. His eyes were red and his face was wet. I had spent so much time hating him – too much time. Our friendship was so new, and I was angry at myself for not bothering to get to know him any earlier. I might have known how to help him now.

"Here, Jacob, let me take her," I offered gently. "I promise I won't let anything more happen to her."

He nodded and handed her to me. I put Raine's head onto my shoulder, tucking the rest of her body around me. I could feel the lump where she had been kicked. The poor little thing hadn't stood a chance against that assualt. She wasn't very heavy, but she was awkward to carry in this form.

We finally made it back to our condo's after what felt like days. Jacob had yet to say anything. I opened my door. He followed me inside. I took Raine upstairs and put her in my bed. I was not too sure if I should put a sheet over her, so I decided to cover all but her head. I gently patted her ears back. I gave her a light kiss by her ear and told her how sorry I was.

It was, after all, my doing. Why had I let Bella talk me into biting her? Why had I let her go to Volterra? Why had I been foolish enough to try to be in a relationship with a human from the beginning? If I had given into my instinct the first day we had met, none of this ever would have occurred. Surely there were other people somewhere whose thoughts I was immune to. Someone else could easily have blood as sweet as hers. I should have gotten to know her and left it at that. I should have gone to seek out these people who may or may not have existed. I should have done anything but this.

Jacob attempted to crawl into the bed next to Raine. The brokenness was clear on his face. He was much paler then I had ever thought he could get. He was struggling to make his body function properly. I had been dealing with my loss of Bella for weeks now. It was time to do something with myself.

I knew that being with the body would do him no good. Raine was only a shell now. He couldn't keep it forever. It would only pain him more, the longer he sat around it. That's what a funeral was for – only one last goodbye before it was taken away and put where no one would have to witness it's grotesque deterioration. That was certainly not what he needed to see.

I put a hand on his chest and stopped him from snuggling with her corpse. He looked up at me, tears spilling from his dark brown eyes. It truly reminded me of a young puppy who had been horribly wronged and was seeking help from any source it could find.

"No,"I said softly."Raine is gone. This is only a body. It can't offer you any comfort. It will only pain you further to stay with it."

"Please..." Jacob's voice was small and desperate.

"No," I repeated.

He moved to the other side of the bed then. He put his head against the wall and began sobbing. "Sh-she killed her. She just... I-I can't believe..." He broke off.

Seeing his thoughts, coupled with the sorrow in his voice was almost too much for me to bear. He had helped me as I was loosing Bella to the demon inside her, and I was determined to help him get through this. I only wished I could shut out the things in his head. I saw her death over and over again. The kick. The way she had staggered before falling. Her pitiful, terrified yelp. The snap inside of him. A tortured rip as Raine breathed out for the last time. The worst for me was the look of pure malice on Bella's face as she stood above the two of them, then the cold looked in her hard, red eyes as she realized what she had done. It was the expression of a killer who could really care less about who they had just hurt.

"I know, Jacob. I understand. I never thought that Bella was capable of such an evil. I wouldn't have believed she would murder one of her best friends either." I sat next to him. It was so awkward. Half of me wanted to just leave him be and come back when he wasn't like this. It was my still very human emotions that made me stay. "Listen, I know how unbearably angry you must be. I can feel that you're on the verge of phasing. I want you to go and do just that. There's a woods not far from here and I know you can get there unnoticed if you run. Go out for a few hours. Destroy what you want. Get all of your rage out, then come back when you can think more clearly."

He nodded and sniffed loudly. "Yeah. Yeah, ok. Edward... promise me we won't leave Raine behind? She was always afraid of being alone. She deserves to be where her friends are. I want her..." He paused, sobbing once before he continued. "I want her to be buried next to my mom."

I had always known he'd lost his mother. With everything that had gone on in the years before, I hadn't really cared. Now this simple fact that I had forgotten cut a deep wound in my heart. "I promise." It was all I could manage.

Jacob went to my bathroom and within seconds, a red wolf came back around the corner. He waddled to the bed and put his forehead against Raine's neck. He seemed to sigh and licked her muzzle. He got up and blinked at me, his ears down and his tail between his legs. I scratched his head encouragingly before he left. He whined in thanks then took off. Several minutes later, way off in the distance, I heard a wolf's lonely howl.

My phone began to buzz on the table behind me. I didn't want to deal with anything else right now, but I picked it up anyway. It was Alice.

"Edward,"she gasped. It sounded as if she had been crying, though I knew it was impossible. "Oh, Edward, I saw... is everything alright?"

"What do you think?" I snapped. "Bella has gone about as wrong as any one of us could go and Raine is dead! No, nothing is alright!"

She groaned sadly. "I know. That was such a stupid question, forgive me. Is there anything that we can do?"

"You can start by not ever mentioning any of this to me again," I said.

"No, no we won't do that. Not until you're ready. Are you coming home soon?"

"Yes. There isn't anything here for me. As soon as Jacob gets to feeling a little better, I'll get us on a plane. I'll have to see what I can do about Raine's body. It has to come back with us."

"Of course. Edward, no matter what any woman ever does to you, please remember that I'll always love you."

That gave me a very faint trace of a smile."Thank you."

"I'll let you go now. 'Bye."

"Bye."

I sighed. Now I was all alone. I wasn't sure what to do. There certainly wasn't anything I felt like doing. I couldn't go anywhere. Turning the television on felt like trivializing everything. I wondered how to go about getting a body back onto the plane. We might have been able to get a duffel bag big enough, but that was disgustingly disrespectful. There was also no way we could get a body bag on a plane, even if it was a private flight. Not unless we could disguise it.

It would have been so much easier to think without the stupid pulse in my head. Why couldn't it stay steady? I was about to get up and tell Jacob he couldn't have possibly been out long enough, when I heard the far off howl once more. But then, if it wasn't Jacob's heart I was hearing, then the only option left was...

I rushed to the bedside where Raine was laying. I broke the nightstand, dented the floor and my knee went through the mattress. I ripped the sheet away from her. I put my head to her middle, not sure how I remembered that a canine heart was lower then a humans. There it was. A terribly faint flutter. Even I had to strain to hear it, but at least it was something.

"YES!" I cheered.

I gently picked her up and took her to the big armchair on the other side of the room. I held her like an infant, cradling her head against my shoulder. I hadn't truly realized she meant to me until this moment. Jacob had been right. Raine was everyone's baby.

I rubbed the area around her heart vigorously, trying to keep her pulse up and her blood flowing.

"Come on, little one," I said. "You made it through all that. I know you can keep coming back to me. Yes, you can do it. You're Jacob's tough fluff, remember? I know you'll be alright, honey."

I kept speaking to her. Her pulse would come strong then fade away. Then it stopped altogether. Frustrated, I pushed hard on her several times. Her back right paw twitched and her heart started again.

"That's a good girl, Raine," I soothed. "Yes, you're such a wonderful baby, aren't you?"

I began rocking her and I rubbed her struggling heart. I remembered having heard how well people responded to music when they were in a coma like state. I, out of anyone, should have figured that out from the start. Music was the only thing that kept me sane through the decades. I put my mouth to Raine's ear and began singing to her. Her own special song.

I was surprised that her heart began working faster. I had never seen this theory tested out. After what felt like hours, she whined very, very softly. Suddenly, I felt her shaking. Without anymore warning, she popped into her human form. I quickly got some sheets for her and wrapped her up. I didn't need any more trouble today.

She was one of the most beautiful humans I had ever seen. She had olive skin, a few shades lighter then Jacob's. She had soft, light auburn hair. Her eyes were a turquoise color I couldn't recall having seen before. I hardly even noticed the scars on her face.

Raine kept whining. She tried her best to get her limbs to works. I put my finger in her fist, helping her uncurl her hand. She blinked up at me, her eyes watery and confused. She tried to focus on me. Raine lifted her hand and felt my face. I gently kissed her fingers.

She tried to speak. She made a gurgling, woofing sound. I held her close, laughing.

"You're alright, Raine!" I was more excited then I'd been in centuries. "You're going to be ok! Oh, I was so worried. I love you so much Raine. You'll be ok."

She cleared her throat. From the tiny wolf who never spoke, I heard the five most beautiful words that I heard in my entire existence. "I love you too, Edward."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Back

I wanted to get ahold of Jacob so badly. I knew that I could yell loud enough that he would hear me, but so would every human within miles of the condo. I briefly thought that it would be a good idea in the future to clip a Bluetooth headset to one of his furry ears, so that I could still talk to him. All I could do for the moment was wait.

Raine yawned, exhausted from her ordeal. She obviously had a concussion and I knew it would be dangerous for her to sleep. She might not wake, and I was not about to loose her again. I turned the television on, remembering how much she loved cartoons. The bright lights, noise and action seemed to hurt her head even more. I turned it off and softly told her all of the children's stories that I could remember.

When she began to fall asleep again, I gently shook her and got her to look at me. I made faces at her and she giggled at me. That was when I heard my phone again. It was Carlisle this time.

"How is she doing, Edward?" He asked, when I picked up.

"Not so well. She really wants to sleep. I know that she really shouldn't, but I am afraid that she will not matter what. She has not complained too much about pain, and I think that is mostly because she is just so out of it."

"Would it be helpful if I came to look at her?"

I felt a surge of relief. "Yes, it would be! Do you mind?"

"Not at all. I would do anything to help the relationship with our furry friends."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Thank you. Will you all come?"

"I am certain that Esme and Alice will. I hope that the others will as well, but I'm not sure. I can be on the next flight to Tuscany. We should be there by tomorrow morning."

"Is it alright if she sleeps? I do not think that she can make it that long."

"Yes, just watch her very closely. I will tell you an old trick – if she starts to fade again as she sleeps, pinch her ear lobe. A human would have to bite her there, but you can get enough pressure by using your hand. It will shock her awake. She may not be too happy about it, but it is better then the alternative."

We talked for awhile longer. Then Alice wanted to talk to Raine. Raine was not in any condition to speak back, but she listened with a big smile on her face. When Alice hung up, I hugged Raine close. She yawned again and buried her face into me. I was surprised that she could stand my scent so well. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. I began to feel tired myself. As Raine fell asleep, I rested with her.

After several hours, I heard four dog feet slowly padding back. Jacob nosed the door open. His fur was down flat. His eyes and muzzle were soaking wet. His pointed ears were solidly against the back of his head. His tail was still tucked under him. Everything about him had sagged greatly – even his whiskers had drooped.

He closed the door with his back foot, softly woofing hello to me. His head hung as he slowly shuffled inside. He began lumbering towards me, just wanting to go to sleep and forget all of it.

Raine stirred in my arms. She turned her head towards the sound of the door, squinting blearily. "Jakey?" She croaked.

He only looked up with large, sad eyes at first, thinking that he was hearing things. The second he realized that she was looking at him, his head popped up. His ears stood straight on on his head, and the rest of his fur fluffed right up. His tail began to wag furiously. Jacob got a massive, wolfy grin on his face that I hadn't seen in quite sometime. He bounced around in a circle on tips of his paws. He raced to Raine's side then, licking her face all over.

She giggled softly, trying to push his large, wet tongue away. Jacob popped back into his human form, pulling Raine down onto his lap. I was glad he had done it so quickly that I didn't have to see his endowments. He was sobbing happily, still kissing her all over her face. He kept laughing. He finally pushed her hair away so that he could see her.

"Oh Raine! My beautiful, beautiful girl! I was so afraid that I was going to loose you!" Jacob took his tiny hand in his, kissing her fingers.

"Mine Jakey,"she said, smiling weakly.

"Yeah, I'm yours Jakey,"he laughed.

Raine touched his face, tracing down the path one of his tears had taken. "No... no is be sad."

"I'm not sad, darling. I'm very, very happy!"

She smiled then, cuddling close to him and closing her eyes. Now she could sleep peacefully. It didn't take long for her to relax and begin resting soundly against his warm chest. I imagined that he must smell to her the way Bella had smelled to me. Certainly, if he smelled how he always had to me, she would not have stuck her nose that far under his arm.

Jacob watched her for a long time. It seemed as though he was afraid that she would disintegrate if he took his eyes away from her. He finally stood and carried her to one of the beds, and tucked her in carefully.

"Nayeli, Raine,"he whispered in Quileute, kissing her lips softly. "Que Quowle."

I couldn't help but grin. Jacob rarely spoke his tribe's language. It was quite beautiful, now that I listened to it. It was sad to think how quickly it was becoming lost. I had known many gorgeous languages that were now lost to the ages. Even proper English was slowly slipping away.

I was glad when Jacob finally realized he had been roaming the room in he buff and decided to at least pull some of his boxers on. It had been extremely awkward to view what I had seen so often in his mind's eye, though I had tried my hardest to keep my eyes on his face. Unfortunately, the perverted seventeen year old boy inside me had grown too curious – and became very smug, as well. I remembered when Bella had been so terribly cold in that tent, those many months ago. Jacob had squished himself into a space that really did not exist in her sleeping bag. His thoughts had centered mostly around his endowment. Like most men, Jacob was not quite all he imagined himself to be, and my immature, teenage self could not help but be satisfied by that fact.

Jacob kept thanking me profusely for reviving after Raine.

"It is really alright," I repeated. "You have done the same thing for me in the past. I was very glad that I got the chance to start repaying the debt I owe you. Besides, having to listen to all of Rosalie's complaints, I started to think that sometimes I did want my own baby. Raine has been a nice fulfillment of that need. I really do love her, and pulling her through a mess that I created was the least I could do for her."

Still, that did not stop him from several more tearful thank yous. I was relieved when Jacob was too tired to keep his eyes open any longer. I was surprised that he had stayed up as late as he had, what with the emotional roller coaster he had been on. He crawled into bed with Raine and was asleep almost instantly. For once, I was glad that he snored so loud. That would at least keep Raine alert through the night.

Later the next morning, we got a knock on our door. I had completely forgotten to tell Jacob that part of my family was coming for a visit. He was shocked, but very grateful to see them. Carlisle had his medical bag with him, and it looked extremely full. We had already learned that the wolves took a lot more care then humans, but I supposed that he also was unsure of exactly what her injuries were. Esme came in behind him, followed by Alice and Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett had decided to stay home, which I could not blame them for as they had not yet gotten to know Raine as well as the rest of us. I was glad that we had remembered to put a little nightgown on her. She wouldn't have been embarrassed at being naked, but I was sure that my family would have been.

Carlisle made his way to the bed. Raine was awake, excited by the prospect of visitors. She seemed even happier to see who it was. She held both her arms out to him, waving, like a toddler wanting to get out of its crib. He smiled warmly and hugged her. Esme and Alice stayed back to let him work on her before they saw her.

"Hello there, pretty girl! Edward tells me that your head got hurt. Can you show me where?"

"Owie," Raine said, touching her head where Bella had kicked her.

Carlisle very gently pushed her hair back to examine where she had pointed to.

"Yes, that certainly is an owie, isn't it? That must really hurt! We're going to need to protect that head. There is a soft spot right there. That is going to take time to heal, so we need to put something hard around it to make sure you aren't hurt again." He turned to Jacob before he continued. "Her skull actually has a crack in it. It is only on the surface, so it's not life-threatening, but certainly something we need to keep a close eye on. Her head is very soft right there. It's extremely common in new babies, but it can happen when an adult gets hit hard enough. The bone gets a little spongy. She will need to wear a helmet until it hardens or there could be some bad brain damage if she were to get hurt again. So, she'll look a bit goofy, but at least she'll be safe."

Carlisle felt some more around her head to make sure that that was the only injury her head had sustained. It was difficult for him, as Raine kept trying to grab his hands and play with his fingers. He finally decided to give up, not feeling any farther splits.

"You're just being a little stinker, aren't you?" He laughed. "How am I supposed to do my job when you are so playful? Hmm? Are you just going to be a pest?"

He began to tickle her and Raine laughed. She kicked her little feet and her eyes sparkled as she tried to dodge Carlise's hands. I smiled, thinking sadly that he would have been great with a baby. It was really too bad that he and Esme would never have one. He finally too great care in bandaging Raine's head. She couldn't get the helmet until we were back in America, since it would need to fit her pefectly. He moved aside then to let Esme and Alice see her.

Esme gently stroked Raine's cheek. Raine took her arm captive in a big hug.

"Mama!" Raine exclaimed.

Esme beamed. She was happy to be anyone's mother, especially someone who needed it so badly.

"Hello, sweetie-pie! I am so happy to see you! I really missed you. How are you doing?"

"Owie," Raine repeated, making an exaggerated sad face.

"I know, you got a really big owie, didn't you? I am so sorry!"

Esme leaned over and kissed Raine's head. She sat on the bed so that Raine could snuggle into her. Alice went to see her then.

"Hello, baby! Hi! Oh, Raine, I've missed you! I was so worried when Edward told me you were hurt. I'm so happy to see that you're alright!"

Alice kissed her little hands. Raine touched Alice's face, then ran her hands down Alice's hair.

"Ali," she grinned. "Pretty Ali!"

"No, pretty Raine,"Alice smiled, beeping Raine's nose.

Raine caught Alice's hand and snuggled it. Alice rubbed Raine's cheek with one of her fingers.

"Where Jassy?" Raine asked.

Jassy. I had to grin. Raine had given everyone a nickname, whether they wanted one or not. If it had been anyone but Raine, I was sure that Jasper would have become very annoyed and demanded them to stop calling him something that ridiculous. She adored him though, and he didn't have the heart to tell her no.

"Right here," he smiled at her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

She reached for him. Jasper leaned over to hug her and was surprised when she wouldn't let go. Raine invited herself into his lap. She snuggled herself in and put his arms around her, grinning up at him. He laughed.

"Well, I see you aren't any less friendly. Look how big you have gotten out here! You are not a tiny fuzzy anymore."

"Fuzzy," she repeated, reaching up to pet Jasper's hair.

"Am I fuzzy?" he laughed. "No one has ever said that before. I suppose you learn something new everyday."

Alice giggled. "Aw, she loves you so much!"

"Yes, you better watch out," he winked.

Raine fell asleep shortly after that. We talked for a long time before we decided that we should head out. Carlisle drove us to where the private plane was waiting. We got all of our luggage onto the plane, and Jacob carried Raine on board. I frowned at the empty seat next to me. I wished that there would be some miracle, fantasy ending – that Bella would come running down that air strip, begging the place to stop. She would hop onto the plane, rush into my arms and tell me how sorry she was and how she would never do anything of the sort again. As it was, the runway was clear and the plane took off with one less passenger then it should have had.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

New Beginning

The rain had finally let up for awhile. It never bothered me, but the wolves found it hard to be out in for very long. It was not as if they couldn't handle it, but they could only shake themselves out for so long before it stopped doing any good. I had also been told that mud getting caked between the pads was extremely uncomfortable.

I was happy that I had gotten to know them so well. At first, Sam had not believed that I had saved Raine. Jacob had reassured him over and over that it was true. Sam finally had to give in when he saw Raine's affection for my family and I. There had been a tribal meeting then. All of the elders were there, including Jacob's father who I hadn't seen in a long while. They invited our family to attend, as it was to be about us, after all. We decided to re-negotiate the treaty.

We were still not to give any sort of hint to the humans about each other, though that sort of went without saying. The destruction of one world would soon destroy the other. No vampires meant no werewolves – and with no werewolves, there would be no one to constantly keep rogue vampires in check, as many times the wolf packs were must swifter then the Volturi.

The pack was allowed to visit Forks as they pleased, and we were allowed to cross into La Push. We also determined that neither of us would ever kill a human. However, the wolves were allowed to do what they needed too if there was a problem on their land with humans. My family was now allowed to bite a human if and only if it was absolutely necessary to save their life - or create a mate, which they thought of as an afterthought mainly for me. We were still not to attack each other, though Emmett and Paul made it very clear that mock fighting for sport was allowed between us. I expected them to jump on that the moment our meeting adjourned.

There was only one more thing that needed to be addressed. My own family had nothing at all to do with it, but they wanted us there so that we would know their decision. The issue was that of the pack's alpha. It was Jacob's birthright. Everyone knew that. He had given the responsibility to Sam who was not only older, but had gone through being a wolf on his own and had been more experienced at the time. Now that they were all equal, it was time to re-think the status.

The debate did not last long at all. It was Seth who made the suggestion first. Once he gave the reasons for it, it was hard for anyone to say no. There was, after all, only one of them who had love for both groups. Enough that they would do their best to see that good relations were always kept. There was only one in the pack that everyone loved unconditionally. One who had seen much of other packs and knew their destructive ways enough to make sure it would never happen amongst them. It was because of that person that we were here now, able to get along and begin to re-write the history between werewolves and vampires. The only person pure enough in mind, body and spirit to be the new alpha of the Quileute pack was, ironically, the only one who was too busy at the moment chasing their tail to pay attention to what was going on. The display of complete innocence in that instance proved that nobody deserved it more then Raine.

Jacob called her over. She perked her ears up and padded over to them. She popped back into her human form, Jacob being quick on the draw with a towel to cover her. He strapped her little helmet back onto her head.

"Did you hear that, Raine?" Sam smiled, patting her back. "You get to be our new alpha! What do you think?"

Raine blinked at him, then sniffled and burst into tears. She buried her face into Jacob. He put his arms around her, stunned.

"Hey, hey, what's the matter, baby girl?" He asked.

"Sammy says me's going be alfalfa!" Raine wailed."I is no want to be green!"

We all laughed. It was decided then, that as Raine's imprint, Jacob was obviously the alpha male, though Raine would be in charge. For now, Jacob would step in for her, until she understood what was going on. Once she reached that age, then they would begin to make decisions together.

((2 YEARS LATER...))

I made my way to La Push. It was an hour past when Raine got off of school. She was being homeschooled by Emily. Emily had all the patience in the world for her, and it was a nice break in her mornings from the babies she and Sam had had months earlier. Raine would leave Emily's house at noon and then go back to Jacob's house for the rest of the day. She liked me to come over to play; I suppose that I was her recess time.

I parked my Volvo in Jacob's driveway. Raine was in her wolf form, already at my door, whining happily. I gently shooed her away so that I could get out. In the next minute, I found myself in a large wolf hug. I cuddled her before we went into the little red house. She was always supposed to eat her lunch before any play time.

Jacob had fixed chicken nuggets. Several bags, as a matter of fact. I was surprised to see Leah and Seth there. Apparently Jacob had been hard at work as his official job as a mechanic, and had not been able to get her from Emily's. Leah was happy to oblige. She did not mind going to see her cousin now, as Jacob had found that, as an alpha, he had an added ability.

He found that he was able to remove an imprint that someone had. It took much effort, and was slightly painful to both parties involved, but it was for the better. He had given Leah her imprint back and it had not taken her long at all to find another one.

Seth, too, had found his imprint. She was a very nice girl, ironically, from Arizona. Her name was Andrea. She had come to Washington with a friend. Her friend shared a name with one of Jacob's sisters, though she spelled it differently. Rebekah had been very happy for Andrea, but it was obvious that she was sad at the prospect of loosing her best friend. After all,Seth could not very well leave, so Andrea would have to move in. Rebekah had no reason to live in Washington – at least, that's what she believed until she met Embry. He had imprinted on her around the same time Seth had imprinted on Andrea. Embry was the more quiet one of the pack. He was much more laid back and, to all but his wolf brothers, very shy. He had just been waiting for the right moment to say something.

"Hello," I greeted all of them. "Where are your imprints? I thought you were attached at the hip."

Seth laughed. "Yeah, but I cut her loose to go shopping in Port Angeles. Embry was the one who couldn't figure out how to detach his leash!"

We all laughed at that. Jacob put the chicken nuggets on the table, giving each person their own tray. Raine gobbled several up, then realized that I was not eating. She stacked several up in her muzzle then offered them to me. I smiled at her.

"Thank you darling, but I cannot eat human food. That was a very nice offer though!"

That was true, but I was also not about to eat something that had been in someone else's mouth. It didn't take long for them to devour every last crumb. Leah and Seth decided to stay in and watch TV while Jacob and I went out to play with Raine.

She wanted to play hide and seek. I did not need to read her mind to know that. It was her favorite game, and one that she was excellent at. She made Jacob count first and tugged me off to hide with her. Raine failed to realize that she could get herself into much smaller spaces that I could. Jacob found me easily, as I couldn't get my big feet into the roll of carpet that Raine had demanded we squeeze into.

I stood against the designated counting tree and slowly counted to one hundred. Both Jacob and I wore nose-plugs, as scent would give their position away immediately. I found Jacob first. He had tried to be sneaky and gotten up into the tree. I would not have realized that, except for the fact that one of his shoes dropped onto my head.

We searched together for Raine then. We found her curled up under a blanket in the bed of one of the trucks Jacob was working on. We had thought it to be a lumpy blanket with a feather duster next to it, but as we got closer, that feather duster began wagging. I snuck up to Raine and gently pinched the end of her tail.

She squealed and popped up. She barked loudly and happily. She romped around in circles, playfully shoving Jacob for letting me get away with that. She ran to me, pushing me over. She nuzzled her head into me, growling playfully and licking my face.

All of a sudden, Raine stopped. She looked up quickly, becoming dead silent. Her ears stood up straight on her head. I could see her nose twitching furiously. She whined, going into her human form. She pulled on the little dress that was tied around her hind leg and went to hide behind Jacob.

"What is it, babe?" Jacob asked. "What do you smell?"

Raine pointed toward the tree line. I could not see or smell anything at the moment. She obviously had much sharper senses then Jacob or I.I kept inhaling deeply, trying to figure out what had her tail in such a knot. On my fourth deep breath, I caught something. Another vampire. It was not long before we could all smell it. Leah and Seth came outside to stand by us, just in case. There was only one, but it could easily be an ambush.

We watched as the white form came slowly through the trees. I was able to make out long hair and I could see the bright red of their eyes. It was a female form, which I could tell as she moved closer. That was when I realized that, although the smell was foreign now, I knew that walk. For a vampire, it was not as fluid as it should be. I saw her stumble slightly. That was when I, as well as the others standing with me, knew who it was; Bella.

Leah growled. I saw Jacob's body lock. Even Seth appeared hostile. I started forward. She put her hands up, trying to show that she did not want to harm us. Bella came closer to us and I met her halfway.

"Hey,"she smiled shyly.

That wasn't about to work on me this time. "Just what do you think you are doing here?"

She glared at me. "I think I came to apologize."

I laughed, coldly. "It is much too late for that, I'm afraid. Go back home, Bella. Forks does not welcome your kind of vampire. We aren't in any need of Volturi."

"Yeah, um, funny thing about that. Aro decided that I was too dangerous to him. I mean, not that I did anything to them, but Alec told me that Aro thought I'm a threat to his power. After he wanted me so badly for my abilities, he decided I was too powerful. Isn't that ironic?" She laughed nervously. "He didn't want any of the guard to get any wise ideas about trying to overthrow him. Especially if Marcus found out what happened to Didyme. He and Caius would definitely have tried to get rid of him, and most likely put me in his place. Anyway, Aro told me that there were too many guard and they would contact me when they need me. Alec told me the truth. He just wanted to get rid of me."

"How very reassuring," I replied. I knew Bella's features well enough to know that she was telling me the truth. Still, being told that the Volturi had said she was too powerful and had given her the boot was like hearing Satan had kicked someone out of Hell for being too bad.

"Listen, Edward. I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't realize what I had done until I did it, and then it was obviously too late. I never set out to hurt any of you. I had missed you so much and you didn't seem to want me around. I decided to be friends with them then, and then you wanted me back. I just felt that you didn't want me around unless I was in trouble. Once there was nothing left to protect, you didn't want me. I guess I was wrong."

"I guess so. But I am not the one you need to apologize too."

She nodded and went to Jacob and Raine.

"Jacob, I – I am so sorry. I know that I hit you. I was afraid... I really didn't mean it."

"Afraid of what? That your best friend was about to help you do the right thing? Afraid that I was taking you away from people who wanted to take advantage of you? Afraid that I was going to make you stop murdering innocent people?"

Bella sighed. "I know. I was stupid. More then stupid. You really are my best friend. I love you. I never meant to hurt you. I was out of control. I'm sorry."

Jacob looked her over carefully. He didn't seem to know what to say. Leah, however, seemed to have plenty. She stood on his foot so that he would look at her. They began speaking in Quileute.

"Atila-cha? Kika!"

I had been learning to speak their language. Seth was kind enough to teach me. _What are you doing?_ Leah had demanded. _Tell her to go away!_

"Wali Tacha..."_I don't know..._

"Chitakido!" _She's a killer!_

Jacob groaned. "Stop it, Leah." He sighed. "I think... everybody deserves a chance to royally screw up once. I already have and I was forgiven. Apology accepted, Bella. It's going to be a long time though before we can be good friends though. I just feel like you're a stranger now. We need to get to know each other again."

"Fair enough." Bella knelt down to Raine then. "Hi. I think I need to apologize to you most of all. I don't know what came over me. Alec helped me realize that you were just trying to help Jake. I would have done the same thing, if I were you. I should have known you would never hurt me. I've been thinking about you a lot since you left. I remembered how much fun we used to have. You were like the adorable little sister that I never had. I loved you so much. I didn't know you very well, and I know I messed up all chances of really ever getting to know you. I'm sorry I hurt you, Raine. I'm sorry I was that cruel. I hate what I became and what I did to you. Can you ever forgive me for that?"

Raine peeked around Jacob's leg to look at her. She played with the seam of Jacob's pant leg, thinking.

"No kicks Raine again?" She asked finally.

"No, I will never, ever hurt you in any way again. I promise."

"Then... then Raine is forgives. You is friend?"

"I'd love to be your friend," Bella said, holding her hand out.

Raine shook it. Bella stood then, to look at me.

"Well, Edward? I'm truly sorry. Really."

I thought for a long time. Did I dare give her another chance? Hadn't I already given her one? Was the third time really a charm? I sighed.

"Bella... words cannot express how much you have hurt me. I never thought I would feel so much pain over another person. I loved you so much and you destroyed me. I never thought that I would be sorry for giving myself to somebody else. I waited for over a century for someone like you to come along because I thought that you were perfect for me. And you were. I gave you the world and for some reason you thought that you wanted more. Everyone in my family told me not to get involved with you, and I was so determined to prove them wrong. Then you turned around and made me realize that they were right. I have never been so hurt in all the years that I've been around. I honestly have no idea what to tell you."

I saw Raine looking between us, worried. She tugged my hand and I looked down at her.

"Wait," she said.

She got up and put her hands on Bella's face. Bella was obviously confused, but she didn't move. Raine ran her hands over Bella's hair. She fingered Bella very dark clothing, removing the cloak she wore and the jacket over it so that she was simply in a black shirt and her black jeans. Raine touched Bella's cold face again. She felt her cheeks and examined her blood red eyes. She attempted to crease Bella's perfectly smooth face to no avail. Raine looked sad, as if she were about to give something up. Then she finally put her hands on Bella's mouth. She poked at the corners of Bella's lips, pushing them up into a smile. Bella laughed. That was the first real smile I had seen out of her in a long time.

"Oh, _there _you are, Bella!" Raine said, with a big grin on her face. She took Bella's hand, pulling her closer to me. Raine took my hand then, and put Bella's into mine. "Look, Edward, my found Bella."

I couldn't help but smile, too. "Yes, you did." I looked at Bella's smiling face and ran a finger down her cheek. "This is the Bella that I remember." I sighed deeply. "I think what Jacob said is true. You're a stranger to me right now, but... but I am willing to give you another chance. I cannot promise you that it will turn out the same way. I cannot even say at this moment that I will be your boyfriend again, let alone re-marry you. I may, but I could also meet someone else that I have yet to come across. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "I expected that. I can't ask for anything else. All I want is to stay in your life."

"Very well. I forgive you. Shall we start again?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. Hello. My name is Edward Cullen, and I am a vampire."


	18. Chapter 18

EPILOGUE

Bella could not go home to live with Charlie. We had not yet told him about the circumstances. Raine was still quite nervous around her, so Bella could not very well live with Jacob. I just couldn't stand the thought of her sleeping on the streets, so out of the goodness of my own heart, we let her come into our home again.

She behaved herself very well, though it was rough. We talked often and were even able to laugh at times. She was still a nice girl, but she had definitely changed. I wondered if my Bella would ever come back.

Almost an entire year later, we got a very unexpected letter. I could smell it in the mailbox before it even came into the house. I immediately knew that it was from Italy. Volterra, specifically. It was addressed to Bella. There was an odd return address on it and I did not recognize the handwriting. I handed it to her, and she let me read it over her shoulder.

_Dear Bella,_

_ How have you been? We have missed you – well, I have anyway. Jane does too, but she does not want to admit to it. I really hope that you made it to the Cullen's home safely. I also hope that if you are not living there, that this letter will find its way to you._

_ I am sure that you have been very surprised by this letter. To be honest, I am surprised that I am actually writing it. Aro knows that I am sending it to you, but he does not know what it says. I cannot let him find out. Once you receive this, I will not be in Volterra any longer. It would not be safe for me, or for... no, perhaps I should tell you the whole story first._

_ While you were here, do you remember me asking so many questions about how you got together with Edward? That was because I was starting to get into my own predicament with a human. I just wanted to know how possible it would be for me to get close to them without hurting one, at first. One evening, I saw a girl get tossed out of her own house. No, I tell a lie. It was not actually her house, but I could not have known that at that moment._

_ She sat by the front door, just crying. She was real dirty and she was not really wearing clothes. It looked more like a huge pillow sack, but I suppose at one time it was a rather ugly white dress. Seeing the person in the house yell at her that way and throw her out reminded me of Jane and I. We were not always wealthy, you see. For awhile, she and I lived on the streets, because we were on the run from the villagers who claimed we were witches. In any case, I felt very bad for the girl, in a way that I had not felt for anyone in quite some time._

_ I approached her and we began talking. I found out that her name was Cypress. She said that she actually had no parents, and she worked as sort of a housekeeper for those people. I had to leave not long after that, as she was very tired. She was so interesting to me and I realized that my thirst had not bothered __me at all._

_ To make a very long story short, we began a good friendship. I was so inspired by you and Edward that I wanted to know if I could make it work, and how to. That was why I was asking so many questions. We kept seeing each other at night. I was so determined to make it work. Then when the two of you split up, I began to have my doubts. I worried that it might all fall apart, especially with my diet coming between us. But you kept telling me how much you loved him. How much you wanted to see him again and how sorry you were. When you decided to go back to Forks and see if you could salvage your relationship, I saw so much hope in you and it gave me hope too. I was sure that I could do it if I could muster as much determination as you had... and as much courage._

_ I think that the hardest part was telling Cypress. I knew I was asking her to leave everything she knew behind to go to a place where she could not even understand the language. I was so afraid that she would refuse – but she didn't. In fact, she was very eager to leave. I told her in this morning, and we will leave tonight. This letter should arrive to you long before we reach America. We are going to cross Europe and go into Asia before we come to the states._

_ I know how furious Aro is with me and I do fear his wrath. We need to cover our tracks as best we can. I left a letter with Jane as well. It hurts me deeply to leave my twin, but I believe it is high time I live my own life, and I have not been happy in Volterra for many years now. I know that the first place my so-called family will check would be Forks. If I am not there, they would be lost as far as where to look goes, so I should be safe to come back to Washington later on. I beg you not to let on to Aro that you know what I am planning. If you could also kindly share this letter with the Cullens so that they are aware of my intentions, I would be most grateful. I have a cell phone with me so that you can let me know if I am welcome in Washington or not._

_ I cannot express how much I appreciate your friendship, Bella. I sincerely hope that things work out between you and Edward._

_ Migliori Auguri,_

_ Alec_

Bella seemed just as shocked as I was. She and I said nothing for awhile, but thinking in stunned silence. Alec would actually leave the Volturi? It did not surprise me to hear that he had thought about it. He was the only one who had never seemed completely comfortable with the lifestyle. Still, I could not overlook the fact that this could be a trick.

"I... suppose that I should call him," I said, finally. "Are you sure that he can be trusted? I would really hate to do the kid in, but if this is some sort of a trick -"

"No, no, I'm sure he's clean. There were several times that just he and I went out walking late at night. He told me a lot of things he wouldn't tell Jane, mostly because she wasn't very good at keeping secrects. She wouldn't ever directly rat him out, but if there was ever anything anyone didn't want Aro to know, she was the last person to tell. He told me several times that he wished he could get away. He just didn't have a reason to leave them. After all, his entire life was there. I knew it'd be really hard for him to leave Jane, too. He kept trying out different excuses with me, to see how believable they were so that he could leave for just a little while. I honestly never thought he'd find a real reason to go. I've gotta admit, I always wondered why he was so curious about us. It all makes sense now."

I nodded. "If you are sure. I cannot see how it would do much harm to let him stay on here for a short time."

"Believe me, if he's conning us, I'll be the one to give him the boot," Bella replied.

There was definitely an elephant in the room, or rather, on the page, as it were. Neither of us wanted to acknowledge the fact that Alec had said he was inspired by us. It was better off that he did not know that we were not technically together anymore. It was possible that someday we would be again, but I was highly curious now.

If I could not hear Bella's thoughts, did that mean that there were others whose thoughts were impenetrable to me? I remembered that her father's thoughts were not completely splayed out for me. I had thought that perhaps he was just a bit slow, but now I realized that this was not the case. If there were other women whose thoughts I could not read, then perhaps they would be just as interesting to me. If they were vampires, that would be even better. I would not have to bother killing someone again. I was content to keep searching, but if I could not find someone, I would always have Bella.

I decided that at least I could be happy for Alec. Even though I had not yet found my happily ever after, I was glad to be of some service to him. I would be alright eventually. For now, I would be happy knowing that I had helped a few people out with their lives. I was bound to find happiness. It may take me a decade or so, but I could wait. I had forever.

**((Thank you so much for reading this, and for all the reviews! I hope you enjoyed it. This last chapter alludes to the next story I'm planning. In the meantime, check out some of my other stuff! Thanks again 3 D.O.L. ))**


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